A  STATEMENT 


FOR 


NON=EXCLUSION 


...  BY  ... 


PATRICK  J.  HEALY  and  NQ  POON  CHEW 


SAN     FRANCISCO 

November     &     &      1QO5 


INTRODUCTION 


Why  Did  You  Do  So? 

To  give  a  satisfactory  answer  to  this  query  is  the  burden  of 
i -\vry  foreword,  prelude  or  preface  that  has  been  prefixed  to 
books  since  the  first  writer  conceived  of  this  method  of  con- 
ciliating his  readers.  The  question  is  legitimate.  The  reader 
should  be  informed  at  a  glance,  if  possible,  why  he  is  called 
upon  in  this  busy  age  to  wade  through  another  volume  of 
printed  matter. 

This  fragmentary  and  incomplete  statement  makes  no  pre- 
tension to  literary  workmanship.  It  is  at  best  a  compilation, 
and  the  reader  will  readily  notice  that  the  portions  which  are 
culled,  are  by  far  the  best  in  construction  and  the  most  forci- 
ble in  argument.  There  is  no  excuse  offered  for  giving  the 
American  people  another  argument,  howsoever  feeble  it  may 
be,  for  the  preservation  of  constitutional  liberty  wherever  our 
flag  is  unfurled  and  our  jurisdiction  recognized.  It^is  impos- 
sible to  preserve  the  integrity  of  a  government  like  ours  if  we 
deny  to  any  class  in  our  community  the  equal  protection  of 
the  laws.  Therefore  this  statement  is  to  demonstrate  the  neces- 
sity of  returning  to  first  principles,  and  to  show  that  the 
justice  which  we  mete  out  to  others  may  in  turn  be  admin- 
istered to  ourselves.  This  paper  is  called  for  at  this  time  in 
the  hope  that  it  may  dispel  the  crass  ignorance  which  is  alleged 
to  prevail  upon  this  subject,  in  the  fens  of  New  Jersey  and  in 
the  mountain  regions  of  New  England,  part  of  the  territory, 
no  doubt,  which  Mr.  Gompers  had  in  mind  when  he  caused 
the  following  sentence  to  be  printed : 

' '  The  pro-Chinese  element  in  this  country  depends  in  a  large 
measure  upon  the  general  ignorance  that  prevails  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  as  to  the  merits  or  demerits  of  exclusion. ' ' 

The  general  distribution  of  this  paper  may  educate,  and  to 
some  extent  contribute  even,  to  the  enlightenment  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Mr.  Gompers.  The  candid  and  unprejudiced  reader 
will  find  in  these  pages  information  of  undoubted  authen- 
ticity, such  as  few  people  believe  exists. 


593482 


'  '.The'  chapter's  thkt'  afe  devoted  to  the  recital  of  outrages  that 
were  perpetrated  upon  our  helpless  "yellow  brethren"  during 
the  early  history  of  the  State  of  California  show  a  disgraceful 
condition  of  civilization,  which,  we  pray,  is  haply  pacing 
away.  The  reader  will  find  here  a  sketch  of  the  present  Anti- 
Asiatic  exclusion  crusade  from  its  embryonic  state, '  through 
its  complete  growth  and  development.  It  will  be  seen  how 
we,  the  favored  residents  of  this  Pacific  Coast,  manufacture 
grievances  to  order ;  and  how  successful  we  have  been  hereto- 
fore in  making  the  rest  of  our  countrymen  believe  that  we 
were  suffering  from  the  invasion  of  an  insidious  foe,  which 
was  constantly  forcing  his  services  upon  us  in  spite  of  our 
most  determined  efforts  to  discourage  him.  No  attempt  is 
made  to  reply  to  the  various  specific  charges  that  have  been 
filed  against  the  Chinese.  The  time  was  too  short;  and  the 
statements  made  by  the  present  day  exclusionists  are  so  un- 
reasonable, so  ill-digested  and  so  contradictory,  that  they 
usually  are  answered  by  each  other  or  are  unworthy  of  serious 
consideration. 

The  charges  of  immorality  and  non-assimilation  which  are 
constantly  urged  against  the  Asiatic  have  not  been  discussed 
here,  for  the  reason  that  most  of  those  who  are  loudest  in 
making  such  charges  are  the  very  people  who  have  no  morals 
to  boast  of  and  who  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  hinder  the 
assimilation  which  they  allege  to  be  impossible. 

Much  of  the  space  in  this  paper  has  been  given  to  refute  the 
economic  arguments  of  the  exclusionists;  for  if  it  can  be 
shown  that  the  American  people  have  not  been  injured  in 
matters  of  dollars  and  cents  by  the  presence  of  the  stranger 
within  our  gates,  nearly  all  the  other  charges  will  have  little 
weight  with  practical  people.  The  attention  of  the  California 
reader  is  specially  called  to  the  statistics  of  the  manufacturing 
industries  of  this  city  which  were  popularly  supposed  to  be 
controlled  by  Chinese  cheap  labor.  Those  statistics  were 
printed  in  this  present  form  nearly  four  years  ago;  but  no 
Promotion  Committee  nor  Manufacturers'  Association  of  this 
State  thought  them  worthy  of  notice.  I  have  dwelt  upon  the 
necessity  of  conciliating  the  Chinese  people,  if  for  no  higher 
reason  than  that  we  may  retain  the  Chinese  market  for  the 
disposal  of  our  surplus  products.  In  this  regard  let  us  hope 
that  the  good  sense  of  the  American  people  will  not  allow  an 


irresponsible  trade  union  to  so  shape  legislation  that  it  will 
be  detrimental  to  that  large  body  of  people  who  in  the  nature 
of  things  cannot  be  organized  and  make  a  concerted  demand 
for  special  privileges. 

It  should  be  Jjie  function  of  government  to_look_after  the 
interest  of  this  large,  important,  though  unprotected  class 
of  unorganized  toilers,  who  are  constantly  pillaged  by  the 
insidious  methods  of  organized  predatory  combinations. 

If,  in  placing  the  numerous  extracts  from  newspapers,  state 
documents  and  the  speeches  of  California  statesmen  there  is 
not  logical  order  or  historic  continuity,  the  undersigned  is 
blame-worthy.  When  this  document  was  nearly  completed 
it  was  decided  to  change  the  arrangement  of  the  chapters,  and 
this  has  marred  the  attempt  at  chronological  order  which  was 
intended  at  the  outset.  For  the  arrangement  of  this  statement 
into  chapters  and  for  the  patient  work  in  exhuming  the  many 
instances  of  outrages  from  the  daily  newspapers,  I  am  in- 
debted to  the  labors  of  Mr.  NG  POON  CHEW,  Managing  Editor 
of  Chung  Sai  Yat  Po,  a  Chinese  daily  paper.  Indeed,  without 
the  efficient  aid  of  Mr.  Chew,  this  paper  could  not  be  given  to 
the  public  at  this  time;  and  for  this  reason  I  am  pleased 
to  associate  his  name  with  my  own  on  the  title  page.  I  have 
to  thank  Dr.  David  Starr  Jordan  of  the  Stanford  University 
and  Professor  Fryer  of  the  University  of  California  for  the 
use  that  has  been  made  of  their  papers  on  this  subject.  And 
I  also  acknowledge  my  obligation  to  the  daily  press  of  San 
Francisco,  as  well  as  to  the  custodians  of  the  Library  of  the 
State  University  and  of  the  San  Francisco  Free  Public  Li- 
brary. 

To  those  who  would  read  more  of  the  argument  that  can  be 
made  in  support  of  reciprocity  with  the  Chinese  and  of  free- 
dom of  exchange  with  all  nations,  I  recommend  "Progress  and 
Poverty1 ',  from  the  pages  of  which  I  have  received  nearly  all 
that  is  of  value  in  this  paper  not  enclosed  by  quotation  marks. 
As  it  is  possible  that  this  compilation  may  be  revised  and  re- 
issued, the  compiler  desires  that  those  to  whom  it  may  come 
will  forward  any  criticisms  or  advice  which  in  their  estimation 
would  make  this  statement  more  complete. 

PATRICK  J.  HEALY, 


PARTIAL     SUMMARY     OF     CONTENTS. 

Our  Early  Contact  with  China  and  the  Chinese. 

I'AGK 

First  American  ship  to  engage  in  Chinese  trade ] 

Old-time  American  merchants  in  China   2 

Advent  of  Commodore  Kearney  in  China   2 

Commodore  Kearney's  letter  to  Governor  Ke  King 3 

Ke  King's  letter  to  Commodore  Kearney   6 

Letter  of  ' '  Your  good  friend, ' '  John   Tyler 8 

First  Chinese  arrive  in  California 9 

Free  access  to  natural  resources  in  California   10 

Governor  Bigler's  special  message  to  the  California  legislature.  .  10 

Mr.  Bigler's  remedy  for  Mongolian  immigration    11 

Bigler's  characteristic  presumption  in  the  matter 11 

Early  specimen  of  legislative  hypocrisy    12 

A  pioneer  landgrabber    12 

Philip.  A.  Koach  on  the  alleged  Chinese  evil 13 

Mr.  Boach's    ideas  of  the  dignity    of  labor  report    of  the  joint 

select  committee  of   1862    18 

Showing  how  little  real  money  the  Chinese  take  out  of  this  State  18 

Anti-Chinese  convention  in  1870    25 

Henry  George's  remarks  at  the  convention    28,  29 

George's  true  foundation  for  the  legitimate  demands  of  labor..  30 

Sandlotters  ignore  George   31 

Boot  and  shoe  industry  in  1867   31 

Good  wages  paid  white  shoemakers 32 

The  Crispin  circular    33 

Exaggerations  of  the  shoemakers    37 

P.  S.  Dorney,  alleged  founder  of  the  ' '  Order  of  Caucasians " .  .  37 

Original  Sandlot  meeting 38 

Eeviving  Dead  Issues. 

Dr.  C.  C.  O'Donnell    39 

Story  of  the  present  anti- Asiatic  crusade    40 

Mr.   O.    A.   Tweitmoe    starts   the    crusade 

"San  Francisco  Chronicle"  on  the  importance  of  the  movement 

Paragraphs  from  Professor  EossJ   address    *  44 

Opening  of  the  first  meeting  of  crusade   45 

Extracts  from  Mr.  Tweitmoe 's  opening  speech   46 

Paragraph  from  Mr.  MacArthur's  address   46 

Some  of  Mr.  Furuseth  's  remarks 47 

Mr.  Golden >s  authoritative  conclusions  on  the  mixture  of  races  49 

Senator  E.  I.  Wolfe,  and  the  Japanese  architect 's  card 49 

The  telegram  from  Buffalo,  showing  effects  of  Mr.  Wolfe's  mes- 
meric   oratory 50 

Preamble  to  final  resolutions  of  anti-Asiatic  convention 52 

The  slender  foundation  for  public  opinion 63 

The  "Chronicle"    says  the  convention  should    be  considered  a 

representative  body 53 

Mr.  Tweitmoe  at  the  ramparts  ' '  guarding  Christian  .civilization ' '  54 

Lincoln  '«  words  in  comparison  with  Mr,  Tweitmoe 's , ,  55 


Tin-  Tuft    incident    •"(!  - 

Mr.   Tweit  nine's   edit.. rials   on    tin-    utterances   of    t  lie   secretary   of 

war 

The  resolutions  that  were  published    <i(l 

What  Taft  really  said   59 

President  Roosevelt's  general    orders,   in    relation   to  the  admis 

sion  of  Chinese    <>•> — 

''San  Francisco  Examiner"  on  the  President's  order 60  — 

An  editorial  from  the  tl  Examiner  "on  bribery  and  corruption  in 

the  United  States   67 

Governor  Pardee  endorses  the  President's  orders 7i 

Era  of  Demagogism. 

Extract  from  Dr.   O'Donnell  's   speech    72 

This  extract  should  have  immediately  followed  page    30 

O'Donnell  compared  with  other  Americans   73 

Explanation  of  early  Irish-American  hostility  to  Chinese  labor ..  (73-~J> 

Circular  issued  by  the  Chinese  in  defense  of  their  rights 75- 

Investigation  of  the  Chinese   question  by  the   California  legisla- 
ture, 1878 81  - 

Max  Morganthau  's  testimony 81 

Boycotting  Leagues    8~> 

The  League  of  Deliverance;  its  total  failure S-~> 

The  California  Anti-Chinese   Non-partisan   Association S7- 

Its  address  to  the  people    88 

Judge    Maguire's    speech    in    opposition    to    an    extension    of    the 

period  of  registration    1)0 

Judge  Maguire  admits  that  the  Chinese  are  not   responsible  for 

land  monopoly  in  California    .CW 

Judge  Maguire  does  question  the  natural  rights  of  the  Chinese.  .    103 

Some  remarks  on  the  soundness  of  Judge  Maguire's  logic 106 

The   poverty  of  the  white   toiler   in   this   country 113 

The   poverty  that   comes  from   competitive   industry,   where   one 

party  is  forced  to  sell  his  strength,  not  peculiar  to  America  113 

The  necessity  of  opening  up  and  retaining  a  foreign  market 114 

No  Chinese  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains;  white  voters  are  help- 
less       115 

Some  Recent  Exclusion  Decisions. 
The  Dred  Scott  decision  as  a  forerunner  of  opinion  in  the  case 

of  Ju  Toy 117 

Dr.  Foster  on  the  Ju  Toy  case    118 

Opinions  of  the  press  on  the  Ju  Toy  case 122 

Laborer  classed  with  gamblers  and  "highbinders" 122 

The    inconsistencies    of  the    law  on  the    definition    of  the  term 

"laborer" 123-f 

Definition  of  the  term  "Chinese  merchant,"  its  injustice 125  ~ 

Justice  Brewer  on  the  Ju  Toy  decision 126 

Harshness  in  the  examination  of  Chinese  children  of  the  exempt 

class    129 

Difficulties  of  Chinese  merchants  to  retain  their  status  under  the 

exclusion  acts   .  .   131 


The  dastardly  outrage  perpetrated  upon  Mr.  Tom  Kin  Yung.  .  .  .    131 

The  outrage  on  the  King  family   133 

Mention  of  the  Boycott  in  China 134 

Testimony  of  Unbiased  Parties. 
Testimony  of  disinterested  parties  on  the  status  of  the  Chinese  in 

California    135 

Testimony   of   Mr.   Gibbs    136 

Testimony    of    Herman    Heyneman    137 

Testimony  of  David  D.  Colton 138 

Testimony  of  Charles  Crocker    139 

Testimony   of   Dr.    Stout 139 

Senator  Morton 's  report .  .  .    140 

The  cigarmakers    143 

Experience  of  Mr.  Baldwin    143 

Hardship  endured  by  the  exempt  class 144 

Judge    Hoffman 's'   opinion    145 

Extract  from  the  "Overland  Monthly,"  on  Chinese  labor 147 

John  Bonner's  opinion  of  the  Chinese  situation   148 

Joaquin  Miller  on  the  needs  of  California    150 

Mr.  Bandlow,  a  labor  leader,  on  the  rights  of  the  Chinese 152 

Mr.  Granger  on  the  Single  Tax  Philosophy  in  relation  to  Chinese 

immigration   154 

Address   of   Dr.   John   Fryer   before   the   Unitarian   club    of   San 

Francisco    • 162 

Some  notes  from  the  address  of  President  Jordan 173 

Statement    of   Mr.   Brainerd   of   Seattle 177 

Mr.  Wolf 's  statement    181 

The  boot  and  shoe  industry  in  relation  to  Chinese  labor 184 

Investigation  of  the  shoe  business    185 

Judge  Peckham  's  letter  on  the  effect   of  Chinese  labor  on  Cali- 
fornia industries    192 

Who  are  the  cheap  broom-makers? 193 

Son\e  remarks  on  the  law  relating  to  the  admission  of  Chinese 

students   195 

The  barbarism  of  the  detention  shed 196 

Summary. 

Summing   up    198 

Extracts  from  our  treaties  with  China    201 

The  necessity  of  cultivating  friendly  relations  with  China 206 

The  decision  of  the  California  supreme  court  which  was  the  main 
cause  of  outrages  perpetrated  upon  Chinese  in  California  in 

the  early   Ws 211 

Appendix. 
Era   of  persecution,  a  chronology  of  some   outrages  perpetrated 

upon  the  Chinese  people   211-242 

Letter   from   a   Canadian    lady  to   Chinese   official    in   regard  to 

treatment  of  Chinese  passengers  by  doctors   242-244 

A    list   of   oppressive    ordinances  aimed    at   the   Chinese   in   San 
Francisco  .  .  , 245-255 


"  God  hsitli  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  .noli  Tor  to  dwell  on  ah 
the  face  of  the  earth."— Acts  17:26. 

"  All  men  within  the  four  seas  are  brethern." — Confucius. 


OUR  EARLY  CONTACT  WITH  CHINA 
AND  THE  CHINESE. 


The  casual  reader  who  thinks  that  our  relations  with  China 
and  the  Chinese  began  here  in  California  at  the  time  of  the 
discovery  of  gold  may  be  reminded  that  we  sent  ships  to  China 
for  tea  during  the  Eevolutionary  War,  and  that  the  desire  of  the 
English  Colonists  in  North  America  to  get  tea  at  reasonable 
rates  was  one  of  the  contributing  causes  which  led  to  the 
Revolution  and  finally  to  our  Independence. 

When  the  Colonists  refused  to  use  tea  brought  from  Eng- 
land the  loss  to  the  East  India  Company  was  so  great  that  it 
was  threatened  with  bankruptcy.  It  could  not  pay  its  debts 
and  its  stock  went  down  to  half  its  former  value.  At  the 
suggestion  of  Lord  North,  Parliament  authorized  the  company 
to  ship  its  tea  to  America  without  previously  paying  the  duty 
in  England. 

The  Colonists  determined  that  tea  should  not  be  brought  to 
this  country.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  first  application  of 
the  " Boycott"  on  American  soil. 

As  soon  as  the  war  was  ended,  our  people  hastened  to  engage 
for  themselves  in  the  rich  trade  with  China.  The  ship  Em- 
press, commanded  by  Captain  Green,  left  New  York  for  Can- 
ton on  the  anniversary  of  the  birthday  of  General  Washington, 
February  22,  1784.  The  development  of  our  trade  with 
China  has  been  in  a  remarkable  and  very  important  manner 
connected  with  that  of  our  national  territory,  and  of  our 
internal  trade  and  prosperity. 

The  early  voyages  to  the  territory  of  Oregon,  the  pioneer 
settlement  of  John  Jacob  Astor,  and  the  knowledge  gained  by 
our  merchants  and  trappers  on  the  Pacific  Coast  in  the  pros- 
ecution of  this  fur  trade  with  China,  led  in  the  end  to  the 


colonization  of 'Oregon  and  California,  and  to  the  magnificent 
results  which  have  followed  in  later  years  through  the  dis- 
covery of  gold. 

The  Sandwich  Islands  was  an  important  way  station  in  that 
trade,  as  it  was  an  important  stopping  place  for  the  old  New 
Bedford  whalers,  when  that  industry  was  in  its  prime.  Thus 
it  can  be  shown  that  the  history  of  the  American  people  is 
inseparably  connected  with  the  commerce  of  China,  and  that 
it  was  through  that  commerce  that  we  became  acquainted  with 
the  value  of  the  territory  lying  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
The  mention  of  Captain  Green  and  the  ship  Empress  will  no 
doubt  recall  to  the  reader  the  names  of  the  old  Merchant, 
Princess  of  Salem,  and  Boston,— the  Astors,  Girards,  Russels, 
Sears,  Heards,  Olyphants,  Perkins,  Jardines,  Coolidges,  Stur- 
gis,  and  many  others. 

The  United  States  was  represented  in  the  China  trade  and 
in  Chinese  waters  by  these  men  long  before  we  had  a  treaty 
with  the  Ta  Tsing  Empire. 

While  the  names  just  mentioned  were  a  guaranty  for  honor- 
able mercantile  transactions,  we  have  had  other  traders  in 
Chinese  waters  who  were  little  better  than  pirates.  Prior  to 
the  "Opium  War"  the  United  States  was  not  represented  in 
the  Chinese  seas  with  any  great  evidence  of  naval  force.  In 
the  spring  of  1842,  Commodore  Lawrence  Kearney,  in  com- 
mand of  the  East  India  squadron,  visited  China  and  at- 
tempted to  settle  the  grievances  of  some  of  our  merchants 
while  incidentally  looking  for  treaty  privileges  for  his  Gov- 
ernment from  the  Chinese  authorities.  The  letters  of  Com- 
modore Kearney  and  of  Commissioner  Ke  are  worth  repro- 
ducing, as  they  are  probably  the  earliest  official  documents 
which  begin  to  tell  the  story  of  our  commercial  relations  with 
China  that  are  in  print  or  accessible  to  the  general  reader. 
Commodore  Kearney,  like  all  the  United  States  commanders 
in  the  Pacific  and  Indian  seas,  had  at  that  early  day  an 
important  duty  to  perform  for  his  Government. 

His  letters  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  show  that  after 
visiting  King  Selim  of  the  Island  of  Johanna,  the  Rajahs  of 
Quallah-Battoo,  of  Soo-Loo  and  of  Muckie,  he  got  around 
to  Macao,  where  he  found  a  copy  of  the  Hong  Kong  Gazette, 
which  mentioned  the  name  of  an  American  vessel  that  was 
engaged  in  carrying  opium.  The  Commodore  wrote  to  the 


United  States  Consul  at  Canton,  assuring  that  official  that  the 
United  States  did  not  sanction  the  "smuggling  of  opium" 
in  Chinese  waters  under  the  American  flag  "in  violation  of 
the  laws  of  China. ' ' 

The  "Opium  War"  being  over,  Commodore  Kearney  asked 
the  Chinese  authorities  for  a  treaty  between  the  Empire  of 
China  and  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  mildly  sug- 
gesting that  the  same  trade  privileges  that  were  granted  to 
Great  Britain  should  also  be  granted  to  the  United  States 
Government.  The  letter  to  Ke  Kung,  Governor-General,  etc., 
is  a  paper  that  cannot  be  ignored  by  any  student  of  our 
relations  with  China.  The  reply  of  Ke  Kung  is  also  a  docu- 
ment worthy  of  study.  They  are  herewith  printed. 

Macao  Road,  April  13,  1843. 

Kearny,  commodore  of  the  ships  of  war,  and  directing  his 
country's  affair  in  China,  hereby  explains  more  particularly 
regarding  your  excellency's  former  communication,  in  which 
were  some  expressions  respecting  the  trade  and  unsettled 
business  between  the  two  countries. 

The  commodore  is  led  to  believe,  that  your  excellency  has 
misapprehended  the  meaning  of  his  communication  of  last 
October,  and  in  your  excellency's  communication  of  the  17th 
ultimo,  which  the  commodore  has  received  and  which  he  has 
carefully  read,  he  concludes  that  your  excellency  supposes 
him  to  have  received  extensive  powers  from  his  own  Gov- 
ernment—able to  manage  the  weightiest  affairs  and  qualified 
to  settle  a  treaty  with  the  Imperial  Commissioner,  which, 
after  being  ratified  by  his  Imperial  Majesty,  shall  become  a 
permanent  treaty  between  our  two  countries.  I,  the  com- 
modore, perceiving  your  excellency  cherishing  this  good  feel- 
ing, have  already  respectfully  memorialized  my  sovereign 
fully  regarding  it.  If,  however,  his  Imperial  Majesty  will 
declare  his  will  on  this  point,  my  country  will  no  doubt  re- 
join to  it  in  the  same  spirit  of  amity,  and  straight  return 
an  answer,  and  send  a  high  officer  to  China,  who,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Imperial  Commission,  will  deliberate  and  set- 
tle a  permanent  treaty  of  lasting  peace  and  friendship.  But 
to  commence  this  good  thing,  to  open  this  road  of  mutual 
benefit,  belongs  to  his  Imperial  Majesty  of  China;  for,  to 
take  that  which  will  highly  benefit  another  country,  and  beg 


that  country's  favor  to  permit,  is  rather  demeaning  one's 
self  and  honoring  another.  America  is  a  highly  prosperous 
and  great  country,  and  needs  to  ask  no  favor  of  another 
country. 

Regarding  his  communication  of  last  October,  the  commo- 
dore requested  your  excellency  to  inform  his  Imperial  Maj- 
esty that  his  countrymen  at  present  living  in  China  ought  to 
be  treated  with  kindness  and  their  rights  regarded  as  they 
properly  ought  to  be.  If  your  excellency,  on  reading  these 
words,  inferred  that  the  commodore  was  begging  a  favor 
from  China,  then  your  excellency  was  undoubtedly  mistaken, 
for  no  such  thing  was  meant.  Moreover,  his  own  country 
would  not  allow  him  to  do  any  act  derogatory  to  the  high 
honor  of  either  country.  It  is,  rather,  the  desire  of  the  com- 
modore always  to  obey  his  own  country's  high  commands, 
and  in  any  case  to  advise  as  to  the  means  of  attaining  na- 
tional benefits  does  not  appertain  to  him.  But  if  he  can  be 
the  means,  although  for  a  short  time,  of  procuring  these 
great  benefits  for  the  trade  of  his  country,  it  will  afford  him 
the  highest  pleasure.  If  the  Governments  of  America  and 
China  fully  know  the  Imperial  will,  all  difficulty  will  in 
future  be  prevented,  for  the  laws  of  his  country  forbid  all 
interference  in  the  internal  policy  of  other  countries,  and 
therefore  China  need  have  no  apprehension  of  subsequent 
difficulties  arising.  But  there  are  persons  in  all  countries 
who,  grasping  for  gain  and  to  benefit  themselves  alone,  never 
regard  the  national  honor;  they  scheme  for  profit  and  in  all 
ways  transgress  laws,  trampling  down  all  obstacles  in  their 
path,  are  of  this  sort ;  those,  too,  who,  by  gaming  great  profit, 
are  getting  their  living,  it  is  well  known,  belong  to  the  same 
class.  The  commodore  has  no  other  object  besides  maintain- 
ing peace  and  quietness  for  his  countrymen  trading  here  le- 
gally, and  if  others  are  seized  by  the  Imperial  cruisers  in 
the  act  of  smuggling  opium  into  China,  then  let  them  be 
judged  and  sentenced  according  to  law. 

Your  excellency's  kind  expression  in  former  communica- 
tion has  been  received  with  gratitude,  ' '  That  his  countrymen 
have  been  observant  of  the  laws  contented  more  than  any 
other  nation's  merchants  with  their  trade."  The  commodore 
has  sincere  pleasure  in  respectfully  reporting  this  testimony 
to  his  sovereign. 


What  course  may  be  pursued  in  future,  and  how  long  the 
peace  and  trade  can  be  maintained,  rests  with  the  Emperor, 
and  also  whether  his  countrymen  can  trade  here  on  the  same 
terms  with  the  merchants  of  other  countries,  is  a  very  weighty 
matter,  and  he  requests  your  excellency  to  examine,  for  if 
it  cannot  be  equally  permitted  it  will  cause  much  unfriendly 
feeling  in  his  own  country. 

The  commodore  also  avails  of  this  communication  again 
to  say  that  what  his  Imperial  Majesty  grants  to  the  traders 
from  other  countries  his  own  sovereign  will  demand  for  his 
merchants.  And  so  to  prevent  any  subsequent  difficulties, 
your  excellency  will  readily  perceive  that,  in  order  to  nego- 
tiate a  permanent  treaty  between  two  countries,  and  settle 
the  terms  of  amity  and  friendship,  the  sovereigns  of  both 
countries  ought  to  appoint  high  officers  to  negotiate  thereon, 
and  settle  the  terms  of  a  lasting  treaty,  which  would  be  a 
great  benefit. 

Your  excellency's  former  communication  has  been  received, 
in  which  the  time  of  the  Hong  merchants  to  pay  the  losses 
of  his  countrymen  was  fixed  in  the  second  decade  of  the  4th 
month.  His  countrymen,  regarding  this  time  as  very  long, 
have  respectfully  sent  to  me,  requesting  that  the  high  officers 
would  order  the  Hong  merchants  to  pay  these  losses  imme- 
diately, according  to  the  accounts  already  rendered.  The 
commodore  knows  that  your  excellency  will  not  allow  this 
trifling  matter  of  trade  to  be  the  cause  of  future  embarrass- 
ment, and  he  therefore  requests  your  excellency  at  once  to 
order  the  Hong  merchants  to  pay  it.  Besides  settling  the 
matter  of  these  losses,  the  commodore  has  no  further  busi- 
ness, and  thus  to  be  delayed  by  your  excellency  he  cannot 
regard  with  pleasant  feelings.  His  countrymen's  property 
was  plundered  by  a  mob,  and  because  the  high  officers  thus 
delay  to  repay  their  losses  the  commodore  has  already  re- 
mained in  Canton  three  months  alone.  He  cannot,  therefore, 
again  bring  this  business  before  your  excellency,  but  must 
respectfully  memorialize  his  own  sovereign  regarding  the 
whole  matter,  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  commodore  has  now  no  other  business  in  China,  and 
only  awaits  your  excellency's  reply  to  return  home. 

With  sentiment  of  high  consideration,  etc.,  etc. 


To  his  excellency  Ke,  Governor  General  of  Kwangtung  and 
Kwangse. 

Ke  Kung,  minor  guardian  of  the  heir  apparent,  president 
of  the  board  of  war,  and  Governor  General  of  the  province 
of  Kwangtung  and  Kwangse,  hereby  returns  an  answer: 

I  have  received  your  communication,  with  which  I  have 
made  myself  fully  acquainted.  The  various  particulars  re- 
lating to  the  commercial  duties  to  be  paid  by  each  country 
are  all  to  be  regulated  uniformly  by  one  rule,  without  the 
least  partiality  manifested  toward  any  one.  As  to  what  du- 
ties are  to  be  increased  and  what  diminished,  or  what  per- 
quisites are  to  be  retained  and  what  done  away  with,  are, 
as  your  excellency  no  doubt  knows,  at  present  matters  of 
public  and  equitable  negotiation  with  the  English.  We  are 
waiting  the  arrival  of  the  Imperial  Commission  to  conclude 
the  negotiation,  and  after  they  have  been  laid  before  his 
Majesty  and  approved  they  will  pass  into  force  in  a  uniform 
manner  for  every  country.  They  will  not  enable  the  English 
alone  to  derive  advantage  therefrom,  while  other  countries 
are  still  restricted  in  their  trade. 

His  Imperial  Majesty's  commands  have  already  been  re- 
ceived, permitting  the  English  to  carry  on  trade'  at  the  newly 
opened  ports  of  Fuchau-foo,  Ningpoo  and  Shanghai,  but 
whether  other  countries  will  be  in  the  same  manner  allowed 
to  trade  here,  I,  the  Governor,  cannot  presume  here  to  decide 
upon.  It  will  be  necessary  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  Im- 
perial Commissioner,  who  will  lay  all  the  circumstances  be- 
fore his  Majesty  and  request  instruction  how  to  act. 

Respecting  the  matter  of  a  treaty,  upon  which  you  remark, 
it  is  well  known  that  your  honorable  country  is  amicable  and 
well  disposed  in  the  highest  degree ;  but  during  the  two  hun- 
dred years  of  intercourse  between  China  and  other  countries 
there  has  never  been  an  interchange  of  treaties.  Recently, 
indeed,  because  we  and  the  English  have  been  in  collision  for 
successive  years,  and  the  two  parties  mutually  distrust  each 
other,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  mutually  drawn  up  in  order  to 
remove  all  suspicion  and  jealousy.  This  solely  arose  because 
harmony  did  not  exist.  But  if  our  countries  carry  on  trade 
as  usual  there  will,  of  course,  be  peace  between  us,  and  no 
formal  compact  will  be  necessary  in  addition.  It  would  be 


an  unnecessary  and  circuitous  act.     I  beg  your  excellency  to 
consider  upon  this  matter  and  see  if  it  be  not  so. 

Respecting  the  remuneration  to  American  merchants  for 
their  property  lost,  I  have  transmitted  urgent  order  to  the  Hong 
merchants  to  have  it  ready  for  delivery  at  the  time  appointed 
in  the  fourth  month,  according  to  the  amount  agreed  on. 
That  time  will  speedily  be  here,  nor  shall  the  matter  be  de- 
layed any  longer  than  that  time. 
To  his  excellency  the  American  Commander. 

Canton,    Tao,    Kwang,    23rd   year,    3rd    moon,    17th    day 
(April  16,  1843). 

True  translation. 

S.  W.  WILLIAMS. 


In  the  confusion  incident  to  the  attack  of  Canton  by  the 
British  forces  in  1841,  several  American  merchants  took  to 
their  boats  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  Chinese  authorities 
say  that  these  merchants  did  not  hoist  the  American  flag  to 
indicate  their  nationality,  and  consequently  the  Chinese, 
thinking  that  they  were  British,  fired  upon  them.  The  de- 
mands of  the  sufferers,  however,  were  paid  by  the  Chinese 
Government.  In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  dated 
September  23,  1842,  Commodore  Kearney  notified  his  Gov- 
ernment that  peace  was  restored  in  China  and  transmitted 
the  clauses  of  the  treaty  exacted  by  the  British  from  the  Em- 
peror of  China.  The  letters  of  Commodore  Kearney  to  the 
American  Vice-Consul  Sturgis  at  Macao,  and  also  his  letter 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  dated  May  19,  1843,  prove  con- 
clusively that  many  Americans  were  at  that  time  engaged  in 
the  opium  trade  in  Chinese  waters.  The  reader  who  may 
desire  to  follow  the  subject  further  is  referred  to  Senate 
document  139,  1st  session,  29th  Congress. 

The  letter  of  Commodore  Kearney  and  the  letter  of  Presi- 
dent John  Tyler  introducing  Caleb  Gushing  to  the  Emperor 
of  China  are  documents  that  deserve  more  than  a  passing 
notice.  Both  letters  are  written  as  if  we  were  writing  to 
the  chief  of  some  savage  tribe,  who  needed  to  be  reminded  of 
our  greatness,  our  size,  the  length  of  our  rivers,  the  height 
of  our  mountains— in  a  word  they  suggest  the  "Me  big  In- 
dian" style  of  speech  which  appeals  to  the  primitive  type  of 


intellect.  Here  follows  "your  good  friend"  John  Tyler's 
letter : 

"I,  John  Tyler,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America 
—which  States  are  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Vermont,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Louisi- 
ana, Indiana,  Mississippi,  Illinois,  Alabama,  Missouri,  Arkan- 
sas, and  Michigan— send  you  this  letter  of  peace  and  friend- 
ship, signed  by  my  own  hand. 

"I  hope  your  health  is  good.  China  is  a  great  Empire, 
exte'nding  over  a  great  part  of  the  world.  The  Chinese  are 
numerous.  You  have  millions  and  millions  of  subjects.  The 
twenty-six  United  States  are  as  large  as  China,  though  our 
people  are  not  so  numerous.  The  rising  sun  looks  upon  the 
great  mountains  and  great  rivers  of  China.  When  he  sets  he 
looks  upon  rivers  and  mountains  equally  large  in  the  United 
States.  Our  territories  extend  from  one  great  ocean  to  the 
other;  and  on  the  west  we  are  divided  from  your  dominions 
only  by  the  sea.  Leaving  the  mouth  of  one  of  our  great 
rivers  and  going  constantly  toward  the  setting  sun  we  sail 
to  Japan  and  to  the  Yellow  Sea. 

"Now,  my  words  are  that  the  governments  of  two  such 
great  countries  should  be  at  peace.  It  is  proper,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  heaven,  that  they  should  respect  each  other 
and  act  wisely.  I  therefore  send  to  your  court  Caleb  Gushing, 
one  of  the  wise  and  learned  men  of  this  country.  On  his 
first  arrival  in  China  he  will  inquire  for  your  health.  He 
has  strict  orders  to  go  to  your  great  city  of  Peking  and  there 
to  deliver  this  letter.  He  will  have  with  him  secretaries  and 
interpreters. 

"The  Chinese  love  to  trade  with  our  people  and  to  sell 
them  tea  and  silk,  for  which  our  people  pay  silver,  and  some- 
times other  articles.  But  if  the  Chinese  and  the  Americans 
will  trade  there  should  be  rules,  so  that  they  shall  not  break 
your  laws  or  our  laws.  Our  minister,  Caleb  Gushing,  is 
authorized  to  make  a  treaty  to  regulate  trade.  Let  it  be  just. 
Let  there  be  no  unfair  advantage  on  either  side.  Let  the 
people  trade  not  only  at  Canton,  but  also  at  Amoy,  Ningpoo. 
Shanghai,  Fuchau,  and  all  such  other  places  as  may  offer 
profitable  exchanges  both  to  China  and  the  United  States, 

8 


provided  they  do  not  break  your  laws  nor  our  laws.  We 
shall  not  take  the  part  of  evildoers.  We  shall  not  uphold 
them  that  break  your  laws.  Therefore,  we  doubt  not  that  you 
will  be  pleased  that  our  messenger  of  peace,  with  this  letter 
in  his  hand,  shall  come  to  Peking,  and  there  deliver  it;  and 
that  your  great  officers  will,  by  your  order,  make  a  treaty 
with  him  to  regulate  affairs  of  trade,  so  that  nothing  may 
happen  to  disturb  the  peace  between  China  and  America. 
Let  the  treaty  be  signed  by  your  own  imperial  hand.  It  shall 
be  signed  by  mine,  by  the  authority  of  our  great  council,  the 
Senate. 

"And  so  may  your  health  be  good  and  may  peace  reign. 

"Written  at  Washington,  this  twelfth  of  July,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-three. 

"Your  good  friend, 
(Signed)     "JOHN     TYLER, 

"  President/' 

The  treaty  that  followed  "good  friend"  John  Tyler's  letter 
gave  us  all  the  commercial  rights  in  China  which  the  English 
received  as  a  result  of  their  prowess  in  arms. 

This  coming-in  after  the  fight  was  over  has  been  our  habit 
in  China.  An  old  Chinese  mandarin  is  said  to  have  called 
us  "Second-class  Englishmen."  We  have  always  assumed 
the  high  moral  attitude  in  China,  assuring  the  people  that 
we  wanted  none  of  their  territory,  only  the  right  to  buy  teas, 
silks  and  other  things,  for  which  our  people  desired  to  "pay 
silver  and  sometimes  other  articles." 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  give  a  history  of  the 
commercial  relations  existing  between  China  and  the  United 
States,  nor  to  mention  any  of  the  questionable  transactions  in 
which  United  States  officers  have  indulged  while  in  the  China 
Seas.  This  notice  of  the  mission  of  Commodore  Kearney  is 
merely  an  introduction  to  a  very  interesting  subject  and  may 
be  an  incentive  to  the  reader  to  seek  further  information. 
Mr.  Ira  M.  Condit  says,  in  "The  Chinaman  as  We  See 
Him,"  that  "the  brig  'Eagle'  arrived  in  San  Francisco  in 
February,  1848,  with  two  Chinese  men  and  one  Chinese 
woman  on  board.  This  was  the  advance  guard  of  the  Chinese 
to  our  coast."  The  discovery  of  gold  in  the  raceway  of 
Captain  Sutter's  sawmill  on  the  American  Fork  was  the 


magnet  that  attracted  not  only  the  Chinamen  but  thousands  of 
other  daring  immigrants  to  our  shores.  Mr.  Gompers,  in  his 
pamphlet  "Meat  vs.  Rice,"  says:  "In  the  early  settlement 
of  the  State  (California)  *  *  *  when  mining  was  the  chief 
industry,  and  labor,  by  reason  of  its  scarcity,  well  paid,  the 
presence  of  a  few  thousand  Chinese  who  were  willing  to  work 
in  occupations  then  seriously  in  want  of  labor,  and  at  lower 
wages  than  the  standard,  caused  no  serious  alarm  or  dis- 
comfort. "  So  the  Chinamen  proceeded  to  grow  the  food  that 
was  necessary  for  those  who  worked  in  the  mines,  and  where 
there  was  any  attempt  at  civilized  life  in  the  "diggins"  it 
was  only  possible  by  the  employment  of  the  patient  China- 
men. The  natural  wealth  of  the  country  was  free  of  access 
to  every  one  and  monopoly  was  not  thought  of  in  any  indus- 
try, so  the  more  there  was  produced  the  more  there  was  to 
distribute,  and  the  cheaper  the  Chinamen  worked,  the  less 
of  the  precious  metal  it  required  to  retain  his  services.  Thus 
civilization  was  possible  in  the  very  early  days  of  the  Cali- 
fornia mines.  Many  writers  refer  to  the  services  rendered 
by  the  Chinese  in  those  early  times,  and  there  is  a  general 
agreement  that  his  labor  was  a  blessing. 

How  did  it  happen  that  his  labor  was  not  always  considered 
a  benefaction  ?  Two  causes  are  at  the  foundation  of  the  white 
man's  antagonism  to  the  Chinaman  in  California— firstly,  the 
monopolization  of  the  land  by  the  speculators,  thus  restrict- 
ing freedom  of  access  to  mining  ground;  secondly,  and  in  a 
minor  way,  the  exhaustion  of  the  phenomenal  richness  of  the 
placers.  When  the  miner  was  restricted  in  the  freedom  of  his 
mining  operation  by  the  occupancy  of  another  miner  or  the 
fence  of  the  speculator  he  did  not  have  the  wisdom  to  reason 
about  the  true  cause  of  his  trouble,  but  immediately  jumped 
at  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the  "Heathen  Chinee"  that 
should  be  blamed  for  his  misfortunes. 

No  doubt  the  usual  mass  meeting  was  called,  and  the  in- 
evitable demagogue  appeared  who  saw  and  took  advantage  of 
the  occasion  to  sow  hatred  and  prejudice  for  his  fellow  man 
and  to  use  these  base  traits  in  man  '&  nature  as  stepping-stones 
for  his  own  advancement. 

As  early  as  April,  1852,  Hon.  John  Bigler,  Governor  of  the 
State  of  California,  sent  a  special  message  to  the  legislature 
on  the  Chinese  question.  Mr.  Bigler  endeavored  to  show  that 

10 


the  whole  Chinese  population  were  " Coolies"  and  that  they 
were  here  under  contract.  He  claimed  that  the  Chinese  ' '  do 
not  seek  our  land  as  the  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  all 
nations."  The  Governor  cited  the  records  of  arrivals  and 
departures  of  American  ships  to  prove  that  there  was  danger 
of  the  State  being  inundated  with  contract  coolie  labor. 

Like  all  social  reformers,  the  Governor  had  a  remedy,  which 
reads  as  follows :  ' '  1st.  Such  an  exercise  of  the  taxing  power 
of  the  State  as  will  check  the  present  system  of  indiscrim- 
inate and  unlimited  Asiatic  immigration.  2nd.  A  demand  by 
the  State  of  California  for  the  prompt  interposition  of  Con- 
gress, by  the  passage  of  an  Act  prohibiting  *  Coolies'  shipped 
to  California  under  contracts,  from  laboring  in  the  mines 
of  this  State.  With  the  consent  of  the  State,  Congress  would 
have  a  clear  right  to  interpose  such  safeguards  as  in  their 
wisdom  might  be  deemed  necessary.  The  power  to  tax  as  well 
as  to  entirely  exclude  this  class  of  Asiatic  immigrants  it  is 
believed  can  be  constitutionally  exercised  by  the  State." 

' l  As  the  subject  is  one  of  great  magnitude,  I  have  deemed  it 
my  duty  to  examine  the  opinions  of  the  Judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States." 

Governor  Bigler  was  an  extreme  advocate  of  "States 
rights."  This  message  was  in  harmony  with  the  Foreign 
Miners'  Tax,  which  was  collected  mostly  from  Chinese  miners. 
This  Foreign  Miners'  Tax  was  of  such  importance  in  the 
early  history  of  the  State  that  many  districts  depended  upon 
it  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  education  of  the  children  within 
their  limits.  In  1855,  it  amounted  to  $150,000.00.  Mr.  Bigler 
seems  to  have  had  some  misgivings  as  to  the  reciprocal  and 
friendly  character  of  his  remedy,  for  we  find  the  following 
sentence  in  his  message:  "The  measures  which  I  have  now 
recommended  you  to  enact  would  not  of  course  justify  any 
retaliation  by  Chinese  upon  Americans  residing  in  that 
country. ' '  I  think  that  the  disinterested  reader  will  be  forced 
to  disagree  with  the  conclusions  of  the  Governor  upon  the 
point  last  quoted.  A  special  committee  was  appointed  to  re- 
port upon  the  Governor's  Anti-Coolie  Message;  and  while 
the  committee  agreed  with  its  general  tenor,  they  recom- 
mended a  remedy  of  their  own.  Among  other  things,  the 
committee  said  that  "Your  committee  would  not  recommend 
the  adoption  of  any  policy  which  would  disturb  the  harmo- 

II 


nious  relations  now  so  happily  existing  between  this  country 
and  China.  Our  nation  looks  forward  with  animating  hope 
to  an  extension  of  that  commerce. ' ' 

"It  is  destined  to  be  the  means  of  enriching  us,  and  giving 
a  commanding  supremacy  on  the  broad  Pacific.  Our  example 
and  influence  may  become  the  means  of  Christianizing  the 
heathen  nations  with  which  we  may  have  intercourse,  and  of 
spreading  among  them  the  enterprise  and  advancing  spirit 
of  the  age  in  which  we  live.  Through  our  influence  the  lights 
of  Christianity  and  of  Science,  the  genius  of  Republicanism, 
shall  be  cast  back  to  illume  the  dark  spots  in  the  Eastern 
hemisphere  where  Science  once  blazed,  but  where  Superstition 
now  in  triumph  reigns." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  committee  took  the  matter  seriously ; 
that  they  appreciated  the  high  and,  we  might  say,  sacred 
relation  in  which  they  stood  towards  their  heathen  brethren 
of  the  land  of  Sinim.  They  go  on  and  say  that  "Your  Commit- 
tee believe  the  permanent  peace,  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
the  State,  and  the  rights  of  her  citizens,  and  the  true  dignity 
of  white  laborers  among  us  all  conspire  to  forbid  the  immi- 
gration among  us.  They  cannot  become  citizens.  They  can- 
not be  slaves  in  the  State  under  the  constitution.  We  want 
no  subordinate  grades  in  a  free  State  where  all  should  be 
free  men.  Then  labor  will  be  honored  and  every  operative  be 
a  freeman." 

But  many  thousands  are  already  among  us;  if  not  invited 
here,  at  least  encouraged  to  come.  We  cannot  recommend  any 
harsh  measure;  a  mild  yet  efficient  policy  should  be  adopted. 
As  the  inducement  in  the  mines  led  them  to  come  here,  we 
should  at  once  exclude  all  Chinamen  from  the  mines  working 
on  their  account  or  for  others.  This  your  Committee  believe 
is  a  measure,  constitutional,  just  and  imperatively  demanded 
by  the  people.  If  this  policy  be  adopted,  and  all  contracts 
for  servitude  under  which  they  came  to  the  State,  be  declared 
void,  they  will  seek  their  native  home.  For  a  reasonable  time 
they  should  have  the  privilege  of  remaining  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  laws.  But  if  they  do  not  then  leave  the  State, 
all  who  prefer  to  remain  should  be  required  to  give  surety 
for  their  good  conduct  and  against  becoming  a  public  charge 
to  the  State." 

The  hypocritical  character  of  at  least  one  member  of  that 

12 


*' select  committee"— Mr.  J.  J.  Warner,  who  urged  that  by 
Diir  example  we  may  become  the  means  of  '  *  Christianizing  the 
heathen  nations"— is  made  manifest  by  reference  to  the 
proceedings  of  the  California  State  Senate,  March  18,  1852, 
when  Mr.  Warner  moved  as  an  amendment  to  a  resolution 
dealing  with  the  public  domain,  mineral  lands,  etc.,  the  fol- 
lowing: "  Resolved,  That  our  Senators  in  Congress  are  in- 
structed, and  our  Representatives  requested,  to  use  their 
influence  and  exertions  to  procure  by  the  act  of  General  Gov- 
ernment the  removal  of  all  the  Indians  from  the  territory 
embraced  within  the  jurisdiction  of  this  State  at  the  earliest 
practical  moment. ' ' 

To  the  credit  of  humanity  and  his  fellow  members  of  the 
Senate,  Mr.  Warner's  amendment  was  not  agreed  to.  The 
committee  reported  a  bill  to  carry  out  their  recommendations. 

In  the  same  legislature  there  was  a  select  committee  on  a 
1 '  Senate  bill  for  an  act  to  enforce  contracts  and  obligations  to 
perform  work  and  labor." 

Mr.  Philip  A.  Roach  made  a  minority  report  on  that  bill, 
in  which  the  following  paragraphs  are  found:— 

''Our  State  thus  far  has  presented  to  the  world  the  un- 
precedented example  of  labor,  without  any  special  legislation 
in  its  favor,  and  left  perfectly  free  to  find  its  reward,  with 
the  few  but  just  regulations  made  by  the  workingmen  them- 
selves; creating  within  a  few  years  a  greater  amount  of 
wealth  than  the  industry  of  any  other  people  produced  during 
the  same  period. 

"The  system  which  has  led  to  this  result,  and  which  has 
invited  to  our  shores  the  enterprising  and  industrious  of  all 
nations,  if  left  free  to  its  own  operation,  must  continue  to 
produce  the  same  developments  which  have  already  marked 
our  history,  and  which  have  added  immense  wealth  to  the 
capital  of  the  world,  while  it  has  raised  the  thousands  who 
have  produced  it  to  comfort  and  independence." 

Generous  Mr.  Roach  did  not  see  that  the  poor  and  abused 
Chinaman  who  worked  in  the  humblest  capacity  for  his  Cau- 
easian  brother  was  a  necessary  factor  in  the  production  of 
this  "comfort  and  independence",  and  that  it  was  not  only 
the  rankest  ingratitude  to  single  him  out  as  an  object  of  hos- 
tile legislation,  but  also  a  specimen  of  ignorant  and  vicious 
political  economy. 


Mr.  Roach,  in  the  following  paragraph,  throws  more  light 
on  the  situation  in  "early  days":— 

"Thus  far,  the  mines  have  been  open  and  free  to  the  labor 
of  the  world,  and  they  have  been  so  productive  that  hardly 
a  law  has  been  needed  for  their  regulation.  This  state  of 
things  has  assembled  in  California  people  of  every  race  and 
clime— of  every  tongue  and  creed— some  entitled  to  work 
our  mines  upon  the  same  terms  as  our  own  people,  for  recipro- 
cal justice  gave  them  the  right  to  claim  it,  while  others  were 
edtitled  to  no  such  privilege;  yet  they  formed,  perhaps,  a 
majority  of  the  foreign  miners,  and  drew  from  our  soil  a 
greater  quantity  of  the  precious  metals  than  our  own  citizens." 

Mr.  Roach  goes  on  to  show  how  persecution  and  injustice 
commenced.  He  says:— 

"This  led  to  the  cry  that  foreigners,  as  such,  ought  to  be 
taxed;  and  as  a  concession  to  public  clamor,  a  law,  unjust, 
unconstitutional  and  indiscriminating,  was  passed,  prohibiting 
foreign  miners  without  a  license  from  working  upon  lands 
belonging  to  the  United  States ;  whereas,  by  the  solemn  faith 
of  our  Government  as  pledged  by  treaty  stipulations,  various 
people  have  as  much  right  to  work  those  lands  as  to  breathe 
the  air  in  which  we  live. 

"The  effect  of  this  law  increased  in  no  manner  the  produc- 
tions of  our  own  citizens,  while  in  the  trading  towns  it  had  a 
serious  and  injurious  effect  upon  commerce." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Roach's  report  related  to 
"an  act  to  enforce  contracts,"  etc.,  which  act  was  supposed 
to  be  in  the  interest  of  large  employers  of  labor. 

He  further  says  that  "with  'free  mines'  for  every  one  to 
work  them  the  wages  of  labor  have  kept  at  a  higher  rate  than 
was  paid  in  any  of  the  Atlantic  States,  and  its  effect  has  been 
to  bring  here  thousands  from  every  State  in  the  Union.  No 
law,  therefore,  ought  to  be  passed  giving  any  one  the  command 
of  labor  at  lower  rates,  or  for  longer  terms,  or  with  greater 
power  than  now  prevails." 

Mr.  Roach  came  very  near  the  true  source  of  California's 
prosperity  at  that  period.  If  he  had  written,  "Free  access 
to  the  land,  the  source  of  all  wealth,"  instead  of  merely 
"free  mines  for  every  one"  (except  the  Chinese),  he  would 
have  come  nearer  to  the  kernel  of  the  matter. 

Mr.  Roach  was  a  believer  in  class  labor,  and  in  class  rule. 


for  that  matter,  as  the  following  will  prove :  ' '  No  indiscrim- 
inate prohibitions  should  be  made  against  foreigners,  as  such, 
for  the  governments  of  many  of  those  whom  we  might  desire 
to  exclude  place  American  citizens  upon  an  equality  with 
themselves. 

Speaking  upon  the  possibility  of  a  labor  contract  law, 
Mr.  Roach  goes  on  to  say  that— 

"It  cannot  be  expected  that  a  law  of  this  character  shall 
f)e  passed,  opening  every  branch  of  labor  to  a  competition 
which  exists  only  by  virtue  of  the  law,  without  directing  that 
it  shall  only  be  lawful  to  employ  such  laborers  in  industrial 
pursuits  not  followed  by  our  people. 

"There  is  ample  field  for  it.  Employment  in  draining  the 
swamp  lands,  in  cultivating  rice,  raising  silk,  or  planting  tea. 
Our  State  is  supposed  to  have  great  natural  advantages  for 
those  objects ;  but,  if  these  present  not  field  enough  for  their 
labor,  then  sugar,  cotton,  and  tobacco  invite  their  attention." 

"For  these  special  objects/'  continues  Mr.  Roach,  "I  have 
no  objection  to  the  introduction  of  the  contract  laborers, 
provided  that  they  are  excluded  from  citizenship;  for  those 
staples  cannot  be  cultivated  without  'cheap  labor';  but  from 
all  other  branches  I  would  recommend  its  exclusion. 

"I  do  not  want  to  see  Chinese  or  Kanaka  carpenters, 
masons,  or  blacksmiths,  brought  here  in  swarms  under  con- 
tracts to  compete  with  our  own  mechanics,  whose  labor  is  as 
honorable  and  as  well  entitled  to  social  and  political  rights 
as  the  pursuits  designated  'learned  professions.'  ' 

Mr.  Roach  ended  his  report  with  a  free  rendering  of  a 
quotation  from  Jefferson,  which  seems  in  strange  juxtaposi- 
tion with  the  rest  of  his  sentiments:  "Is  there  -no  home  on 
earth  for  suffering  humanity?  Shall  we  deny  to  those  who 
fly  from  persecution  the  asylum  which  the  redmen  of  the 
wilderness  granted  to  our  fathers?" 

Strange  how  prone  we  are  to  steal  the  livery  of  heaven  and 
use  it  to  reduce  the  limits  of  human  freedom ! 

In  1852,  the  Surveyor-General  of  California  reported  that 
there  were  93,622,400  acres  of  land  within  the  limits  of  the 
State;  52,000,000  of  this  great  domain  were  classified  as 
mineral  land  or  unfit  for  agriculture.  Governor  Bigler  esti- 
mated that  there  were  20,000  Chinese  in  California,  and  that 
they  were  distributed  all  over  the  State.-  It  would  seem  at 


this  distance  of  time  that  20,000  Chinese  could  be  easily  lost 
in  the  52,000,000  acres  of  mining  land  and  that  there  would 
be  a  few  acres  left  for  Mr.  Roach's  suffering  humanity  who 
came  here  to  avoid  persecution  in  their  own  countries,  but  who 
hardly  got  a  foothold  on  this  soil  before  they  were  ready  to 
persecute  others. 

In  1855,  Governor  Bigler  devoted  five  pages  of  his  annual 
message  to  "Asiatic  immigration."  He  quoted  the  decisions 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  made  and  used  to 
prop  up  slavery  and  to  limit  human  freedom.  A  select  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  grapple  with  the  subject  of  "foreign 
miners,"  a  legal  euphemism  which  meant  Chinese  laborers. 
A  few  paragraphs  from  the  report  of  the  majority  of  the 
committee  will  indicate  their  point  of  view.  After  referring 
to  many  decisions  of  the  United  States  Courts,  which  related 
to  the  status  of  peoples  whose  skin  was  not  legally  determined 
to  be  "white,"  they  speak  as  follows:— 

"The  direct  question  at  issue  is  between  the  American  la- 
borer on  one  side  and  the  Chinese  laborer  and  capitalist  on  the 
other.  The  American  laborer  claims  the  exclusive  privilege 
and  right  of  occupying  the  immense  placers  of  our  State. 
They  look  upon  the  mines  as  being  the  just  inheritance  of  the 
laboring  poor  of  America,  and  the  only  class  of  laborers  that 
they  are  willing  to  admit  to  any  participation  of  this  rich 
inheritance  with  them  are  those  of  kindred  lands  whom  they 
can  receive  as  brothers.  They  ask  us  to  protect  them  from  the 
immense  hordes  of  Asia,  who,  like  the  locust  of  Egypt,  leave 
nought  but  desolation  in  their  path.  If  this  class  of  for- 
eigners are  excluded  from  the  mines,  our  own  laboring  classes 
will  for  a  long  series  of  years  have  the  advantage  of  capital- 
ists. 

"Our  laborers  wish  to  keep  up  the  value  of  their  toil  to  a 
fair  standard  of  competition  among  themselves,  but  you  allow 
eapitalists  to  import  Chinese  labor  upon  them  and  the  equili- 
brium is  destroyed,  capital  is  triumphant,  and  the  laboring 
poor  of  America  must  submit  to  the  unholy  sacrifice.  The 
majority  of  your  committee  believe  that  the  interests  of  our 
people,  the  good  of  society,  and  sound  policy,  all  demand 
prompt  and  decisive  action  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature  to 
arrest  the  further  progress  of  the  great  social  and  political 

16 


evils  resulting  from  the  admission  of  the  Asiatic  races  into 
aur  mines." 

The  foregoing  paragraphs  prove  conclusively  that  the  white 
American  laborers  of  fifty  years  ago  were  fully  as  selfish  and 
as  ignorant  of  the  resources  that  lay  at  their  hands  as  are 
their  brethren  who  are  shouting  for  exclusion  today.  The 
rich  mining  lands  that  were  to  furnish  them  their  "just 
inheritance  for  a  long  series  of  years"  they  allowed  to  be 
alienated  from  them  without  making  a  single  effort  to  keep 
them  free  of  access  to  "the  laboring  poor  of  America."  They 
alleged  that  they  wished  to  keep  up  the  value  of  their  toil  to 
a  fair  standard  of  competition  among  themselves,  forgetting 
that  all  the  misery  and  poverty  that  is  rife  today  among  the 
white  laboring  poor  is  not  brought  about  by  the  competition 
of  the  Asiatic,  but  by  the  competition  among  themselves  of 
the  Caucasian  laborers.  When  the  public  domain  of  Cali- 
fornia was  capable  of  supporting  all  the  white  laborers  in  the 
United  States  the  white  laborers  of  California  did  not  have 
sense  enough  to  enact  laws  to  keep  this  magnificent  heritage 
free  for  the  "laboring  poor  of  America." 

It  may  safely  be  stated  that  if  all  the  land  in  California 
was  thrown  open  to  free  settlement  today,  the  trades  unionists 
have  not  shown  sufficient  capacity  in  managing  their  affairs 
to  justify  us  in  believing  that  they  would  devise  laws  which 
would  prevent  its  reversion,  as  rapidly  as  it  did  before,  into 
the  possession  of  speculators  or  into  the  hands  of  those  who 
hold  it  out  of  legitimate  economic  use.  This  proposition  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  in  all  the  long  years  of  their  existence 
they  have  never  attempted  to  obtain  the  passage  of  a  law  that 
would  virtually  give  them  more  freedom  of  access  to  the  soil 
than  the  white  workers  claimed  that  they  had  in  1855. 

The  excuse  for  the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese  fifty  years  ago 
was  that  they  worked  the  wornout  placers  and  got  something 
out  of  them  after  they  were  given  up  as  exhausted  by  the 
proud  Caucasian;  today  the  reason  is  not  that  they  are 
rushing  to  the  worked-out  mines,  but  that  they  are  taking  the 
bread  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  poor  shoemakers  or  are 
threatening  to  invade  the  field  that  has  long  been  held  by  the 
plumber  and  the  thirty-three  other  kinds  of  mechanics  whose 
services  the  trade  unionists  declare  are  necessary  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  modern  American  house. 

17 


The  next  report  on  the  relations  of  the  Chinese  to  the  in- 
dustries of  this  State  is  found  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Thirteenth  Session  of  the  California  Legislature.  This  docu- 
ment is  entitled  the  "  Report  of  the  Joint  Select  Committee 
Relative  to  the  Chinese  Population  of  the  State  of  California. ' ' 
The  greater  part  of  that  report  is  given  here,  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  the  first  State  document  that  gives  anything  like  a 
fair  statement  as  to  the  employment  of  the  Chinese  through- 
out the  State,  the  probable  profits  of  their  labors  in  the  mines, 
their  necessity  and  utility  in  the  establishment  of  manutac- 
tures,  the  outrages  that  have  been  perpetrated  in  extorting  un- 
lawful taxes  from  them,  and  the  hopes  that  were  entertained 
by  the  committee  of  the  benefits  that  would  result  to  this  coun- 
try from  the  new  line  of  "mail  steamers  which  will  enable  us 
to  become  better  acquainted  with  this  wonderful  people." 

REPORT. 

Mr.  President:  The  joint  select  committee  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, which  was  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Chinese  mer- 
chants of  this  State,  and  to  report  the  result  of  said  confer- 
ence to  the  Legislature,  together  with  such  views  as  bear 
upon  the  legality  of  admitting  and  the  influence  of  a  per- 
manent Chinese  population  amongst  us,  beg  leave  to  submit 
the  following  report: 

Your  committee  has  had  several  interviews  with  the  lead- 
ing Chinese  merchants  of  this  city,  and  found  them  to  be 
men  of  intelligence,  ability  and  cultivation,  who  kindly  and 
promptly  met  our  many  inquiries  in  a  spirit  and  with  an 
urbanity  that  left  upon  our  minds  favorable  impressions. 

They  placed  us  in  possession  of  a  mass  of  statistics  re- 
specting the  industry  and  the  value  of  the  labors  of  their 
countrymen  to  this  State,  which  we  here  present. 

These  statements  surprise  us,  and  we  feel  confident  they 
will  deeply  interest  you  and  our  constituents,  and  it  will  be 
well  to  ponder  them  before  any  action  shall  be  proposed  that 
will  have  a  tendency  to  disturb  so  important  an  interest  and 
drive  from  our  State  a  class  of  foreigners  so  peaceful,  indus- 
trious and  useful. 

From  the  information  which  we  derived  from  the  mer- 
chants and  from  examination  of  their  data,  we  put  down  the 

18 


Chinese  population  in  the  State  at  this  time  at  about  fifty 
thousand.  The  merchants,  from  their  books,  where  they  keep 
an  accurate  account  of  arrivals,  departures  and  deaths  of 
their  countrymen,  say  there  are  forty-eight  thousand  three 
hundred  and  nineto-one;  that  there  are  engaged  in  mining 
about  thirty  thousand;  in  farming  about  twelve  hundred, 
hired  as  laborers  principally;  in  washing  and  ironing  and  as 
servants,  they  could  not  tell;  that  there  are  about  two  thou- 
sand traders.  The  number  of  Chinese  prostitutes,  they  say, 
they  cannot  tell,  as  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  There 
are  about  two  hundred  families  of  respectability  here;  that 
is,  married  females,  having  families.  They  say  that  they 
think  that  about  two  hundred  Chinese  are  employed  in  man- 
ufacture of  cigars  in  this  city. 

Their  estimates  of  the  numbers  in  the  various  branches  of 
industry  in  the  State,  they  say,  may  not  be  correct,  as  they 
have  no  control  over  the  Chinese;  they  pursue  whatever  call- 
ing they  choose  and  are  as  free  as  any  persons  in  the  State. 

Upon  this  head  your  committee  examined  them  at  great 
length  and  in  the  most  minute  and  careful  manner,  and  your 
committee  is  satisfied  that  there  is  no  system  of  slavery  or 
coolieism  amongst  the  Chinese  in  this  State.  If  there  is  any 
proof  going  to  establish  the  fact  that  any  portion  of  the 
Chinese  are  imported  into  this  State  as  slaves  or  coolies,  your 
committee  have  failed  to  discover  it. 

The  present  law  in  force  in  regard  to  this  class  of  popula- 
tion, in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  imposes  upon  them 
quite  as  heavy  burdens  as  they  are  able  to  bear,  and  in  many 
instances  far  beyond  their  ability  to  stand  up  under. 

Your  committee  trust  that  no  more  legislation  will  be  had 
salculated  to  oppress  and  degrade  this  class  of  persons  in 
our  State. 

The  truth  of  many  of  the  statements  we  have  been  able 
to  verify  from  other  and  independent  sources  confirming 
their  reliability. 

STATISTICS    FOR    1861. 

Amount  of  duties  paid  by  Chinese  importers 

.  into  the  Custom  House  at  this  port  was ...  $  500,000.00 

Freight  money  paid  to  ships  from  China 180,683.00 

Passage  money  paid  to  ships  from  China 382,000.00 

19 


Head  tax  7,556.00 

Boat  hire 4,767.00 

Rent  for  stores  and  storage 370,000.00 

Licenses,  taxes,  etc.,  in  State 2,164,273.00 

Commission  paid  auctioneers  and  brokers 20,396.00 

Drayage  in  San  Francisco 59,662.00 

Teaming  in  the  interior  of  State 360,000.00 

Paid  for  American  products  in  San  Francisco.  1,046,613.00 

Paid  for  American  products  in  State 4,953,387.00 

Paid  for  fire  insurance  in  the  city 1,925.00 

Paid  for  marine  insurance  in  the  city 33,647.00 

Paid   for   steamboat   fare   to   Sacramento    city 

and  Stockton  50,000.00 

Paid  for  stage  fare  to  and  from  the  mines 250,000.00 

Paid  for  steamboat  up-river  freights 80,000.00 

*Water  rates  for  Chinese  miners 2,160,000.00 

**Mining  claims  bought  by  Chinese  miners .  .  .  1,350,000.00 


Total    $13,974,909.00 

The  data  of  many  of  these  estimates  of  expenditure  are 
kept  by  several  of  the  Chinese  companies  with  great  minute- 
ness and  particularity,  so  that  from  these  accounts  we  have 
been  enabled  to  deduce  average  expenditure  per  head  per 
annum. 

From  the  above  remarkable  statistics,  amounting  to  four- 
teen millions  of  dollars  yearly,  you  will  be  able  to  form  an 
idea  of 'the  value  which  this  Chinese  population  and  industry 
confers  upon  the  State. 

Dissect  these  various  items  and  see  what  employment  this 
"scourged  race"  gives  to  our  ship  owners,  our  water  men, 
our  real  estate  men,  our  merchants,  draymen,  teamsters, 
steamboat  men,  our  stage  owners  with  their  hostlers  and 
horses  and  blacksmiths  and  carriage  makers,  our  farmers  and 
cattle  men — in  short,  nearly  every  branch  of  human  industry 
and  patronage. 

And  for  this  fourteen  millions  of  dollars  which  we  gather 
from  the  Chinese  population  what  do  we  give  in  exchange? 
Mainly,  thus  far,  the  privilege  to  work  in  the  mines,  on  bars, 
beds  and  gulch  claims  which  have  been  abandoned  by  our 

*Twenty  thousand  miners  buy  water  at  thirty  cents  per  man  per  day. 
**Fifteen  thousand  miners  buy  claims  at  twenty  cents  per  man  per  day 

20 


countrymen  and  other  white  men,  because  by  their  intelli- 
gence and  skill  they  could  find  other  diggings  where  they 
eould  do  better.  Such  claims  to  all  but  the  patient,  moder- 
ate Chinese  would  otherwise  have  remained  idle  and  unpro- 
ductive. 

In  towns  and  cities  we  have  washmen  and  cooks  who  to 
some  extent  compete  with  imported  servants  from  Europe, 
and  this  is  about  the  only  competition  which  some  fifty  thou- 
sand peaceable,  patient  and  industrious  Chinese  immigrants 
have  thus  far  produced  in  California.  Surely,  if  this  de- 
clared evil  were  doubled  or  magnified  tenfold  it  need  not 
create  alarm  in  the  breasts  of  cautious  and  fearful  citizens. 

We  have  about  eighty  Chinamen  working  in  the  Mission 
woolen  factory,  which  by  reason  of  their  cheap  labor  is  able 
to  find  employment  for  some  seventy  white  men.  With  high 
rates  of  labor  this  valuable  enterprise  could  not  be  prose- 
suted  in  this  State.  Woolen  manufactures  should  be  es- 
pecially encouraged  by  generous  legislation. 

Our  climate  is  highly  favorable  to  sheep  raising,  and  it 
should  be  our  study  to  find  a  home  market  for  all  the  wool 
that  can  be  grown  here.  Coarse  blankets  and  coarse  clothes 
are  consumed  upon  this  coast  in  unlimited  quantities,  and 
we  shall  soon  find  customers  for  stuff  of  finer  quality.  The 
raising  of  sheep  and  raising  of  wool  could  soon  become  an 
interest  of  vast  value  to  the  State.  This  interest  yet  to  be 
created,  infringing  upon  no  existing  class  of  labor,  would 
afford  occupation  for  thousands  of  Chinese,  associated  with 
as  many  more  whites,  and  prove  a  mutual  and  public  blessing 

With  cheap  labor  we  could  supply  our  own  wines  and 
liquors,  besides  sending  large  quantities  abroad.  The  wine 
crop  of  France  in  1849  was  nine  hundred  and  twenty-five 
million  gallons,  valued  at  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 
In  1853  she  had  in  vineyards  four  million  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty-four  acres 
^giving  less  than  two  hnudred  gallons  to  the  acre),  making 
about  eight  thousand  one  hundred  &nd  seven  square  miles, 
or  an  area  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length  by  thirty- 
one  in  breadth.  California  contains  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty-one  square  miles, 
which  would  give  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  hundred  and 
forty-seven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty  acres;  so  that 

21 


if  only  one  twenty-fifth  of  her  area  should  be  planted  with 
vineyards  she  would  have  an  amount  equal  to  France. 

We  have  a  fresher  soil,  better  climate  for  grape  culture 
than  France,  and  we  could  produce  larger  quantities  of  bet- 
ter quality  than  is  grown  in  worn-out  lands. 

This  cannot  be  done  without  the  aid  of  cheap  labor  from 
some  quarter,  but  a  portion  of  Chinese  with  white  labor 
would  add  incalculably  to  the  resources  of  the  State  in  this 
particular  branch.  It  would  also  diminish  drunkenness  and 
consequent  pauperism,  thereby  greatly  diminishing  crime  and 
misery. 

To  the  wine  produced  add  the  cost  of  pipes  and  bottles, 
the  transportation  and  commissions  on  sales,  and  this  wine 
and  liquor  interest  would  become  second  only  to  the  mining 
and  farming  interests. 

Turning  from  the  grape,  let  us  dwell  a  moment  upon  the 
production  of  rice,  tea,  sugar,  tobacco  and  dried  fruits  of 
every  description,  such  as  figs,  raisins,  etc.,  etc.,  all  of  which 
can  be  easily  grown  in  the  State,  and  soon  will  be  commenced 
if  we  encourage  cheap  labor  from  abroad  to  cultivate  our 
waste  luxuriant  soil.  It  is  industry  which  makes  a  people 
great,  rich  and  powerful,  and  to  our  enterprise  and  resources 
we  need  but  the  willing  hand  of  patient  labor  to  make  our 
young  and  great  State  the  glory  of  our  country  and  marvel 
of  the  world. 

To  develop  her  latent  resources  and  vitalize  all  her  powers 
we  need  sound,  liberal,  far-seeing  legislators— men  who  can 
mould  and  harness  all  inferior  races  to  work  out  and  realize 
our  grand  and  glorious  destiny. 

They  work  for  us,  they  help  build  up  our  State  by  con- 
tributing largely  to  our  taxes,  to  our  shipping,  farming  and 
mechanical  interests,  without  to  any  extent  entering  these 
departments  as  competitors;  they  are  denied  privileges  equal 
with  other  foreigners;  they  cannot  vote  or  testify  in  courts 
3f  justice,  nor  have  a  voice  in  making  our  laws,  nor  mingle 
with  us  in  social  life.  *  Certainly  we  have  nothing  to  fear 
from  a  race  so  contemned  and  restricted;  on  the  contrary, 
those  Chinamen  who  remain  here  are  educated  up  to  our 
standard. 

When  they  leave  us  they  carry  the  knowledge  of  our  im- 
provements home  to  their  countrymen,  and,  although  we  must 

22 


not  look  for  miracles  in  a  decade  of  years  in  changing  the 
manners  of  any  people,  yet  the  business  relations  between 
California  and  Asia  will  do  more  to  liberalize  and  Christian- 
ize those  countries  than  the  labor  of  all  the  missionaries 
throughout  China.  The  Chinese  are  quick  to  see  and  ready 
to  adopt  any  custom  or  thing  that  promises  improvement. 

Your  committee  was  furnished  with  a  list  of  eighty-eight 
Chinamen  who  are  known  to  have  been  murdered  by  white 
people,  eleven  of  which  number  are  known  to  have  been  mur- 
dered by  collectors  of  foreign  minors'  license  tax— sworn  of- 
ficers of  the  law.  But  two  of  the  murderers  have  been  con- 
victed and  hanged.  Generally  they  have  been  allowed  to 
escape  without  the  slightest  punishment. 

The  above  number  of  Chinese  who  have  been  robbed  and 
murdered  compose  probably  a  very  small  proportion  of  those 
who  have  been  murdered,  but  they  are  all  which  the  records 
of  the  different  societies  or  companies  in  this  city  show.  It 
is  a  well-known  fact  that  there  has  been  a  wholesale  system 
of  wrong  and  outrage  practiced  upon  the  Chinese  population 
of  this  State,  which  would  disgrace  the  most  barbarous  na- 
tion upon  earth. 

Instead  of  driving  them  out  of  the  State,  bounties  might  be 
offered  them  to  cultivate  the  rice,  tea,  tobacco  and  other  arti- 
cles. Respecting  rice,  it  will  take  considerable  time  and  much 
labor  on  our  tule  lands  before  they  can  be  made  to  produce  a 
good  crop  of  rice.  Tea  is  another  article  requiring  much 
experience,  where  Chinese  labor  could  be  productive  of  great 
benefit,  without  coming  in  competition  with  white  labor. 

Our  Chinese  importers  paid,  last  year,  duties  at  the  Custom 
House  amounting  to  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Tea, 
which  was  then  admitted  free,  now  pays  twenty  cents  a  pound 
duty,  and  there  will  be  imported  one  million  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  The  yearly  import  of  rice  is  twenty-five 
million  pounds,  on  which  to  additional  duty  over  last  year, 
will  be  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  Sugar  and 
China  silks,  and  many  other  small  articles,  have  been  material- 
ly advanced  by  the  existing  tariff,  so  that,  instead  of  collecting 
from,  the  Chinese  importers  five  thousand  dollars,  the  same  as 
last  year,  the  duties  now  will  amount  to  nearly,  or  quite,  a 
million  of  dollars. 

Remember  our  intercourse  with  China  is  but  just  opened; 


other  nations  are  watching  us  with  envious  eyes.  With  our 
enterprise,  we  must  combine  justice  and  reciprocal  interests. 
Our  past  conduct  toward  our  Chinese  residents  has  not  in- 
spired them  with  confidence  in  us.  They  wish  to  cultivate  our 
friendship.  A  better  class  than  we  have  yet  seen  would  come 
to  reside  with  us,  if  thpy  could  be  assured  of  protection;  but 
having  no  Consul  here,  and  being  unacquainted  with  our 
laws  (although  anxious  to  conform  to  them),  they  dare  not 
bring  capital  to  invest  in  the  country  in  large  amounts. 

Let  us  legislate  as  becomes  a  great  liberal,  magnanimous 
people.  Let  us  manifest  our  superiority  by  kindness.  We  are 
but  on  the  opening  of  those  mighty  rivers  which  support  four 
hundred  millions  of  people.  With  the  unequaled  resources 
af  our  own  matchless  State,  and  the  unequaled  enterprises  of 
modern  times  with  a  prudence  and  intelligence  that  shall 
crown  our  efforts  with  countless  wealth  and  national  renown. 
If  a  partial  Providence  has  endowed  us  with  the  talents 
let  us  use  them  to  gain  other  ten;  and  let  us  infuse  into  our 
benighted  neighbors  the  blessings  of  that  higher  and  purer 
civilization  which  we  feel  we  were  destined  to  establish  over 
the  whole  earth. 

R.     F.     PERKINS 

(Chairman  Senate  Committee), 

0.    HARVEY, 

G.    K.    PORTER, 

JOHN    E.    BENTON 
(Chairman  Assembly  Committee), 

G.    W.    SEATON, 

W.    W.    BATTLES. 
San  Francisco,  March  llth,  1862. 

From  1862  to  1870  not  much  organized  opposition  to  the 
Chinese  existed  in  this  State.  Those  who  took  interest  in 
what  is  called  "Organized  Labor"  and  who  lived  in  the  city 
sf  San  Francisco  in  the  early  seventies,  will  remember  Gen- 
eral A.  M.  Winn.  He  was  a  pioneer  of  this  State,  and  at  one 
time  Mayor  of  Sacramento.  He  was  probably  a  man  of  some 
means,  as  he  gave  most  of  his  time  to  the  management  of  the 
''Mechanics'  State  Council,"  a  sort  of  pioneer  Federation  of 
Labor  minus  its  national  affiliation.  The  General  was 
a  born  organizer,  a  plausible  speaker,  with  a  knack  of 

24 


getting  elected  to  preside  at  public  meetings,  and  a 
faculty  for  getting  the  greatest  possible  publicity  for  the 
schemes  he  was  engaged  in.  He  was  early  attracted  to  the 
Anti-Coolie  Movement,  and  the  Mechanics'  State  Council,  of 
which  he  was  President,  passed  the  usual  buncombe  resolu- 
tions denouncing  the  Asiatic  and  eulogizing  the  free  American 
laborer.  The  Council  also  printed  and  distributed  one  of 
Governor  Bigler's  Anti-Coolie  Messages. 

On  July  15th,  1870,  a  great  Anti-Chinese  Convention  was 
held  in  the  Mechanics '  Pavilion.  General  Winn  presided,  and 
authorized  the  sending  of  the  following  circular  to  the  "Six 
Companies": — 

United  States  of  America,  State  of  California. 
Anti-Chinese  Convention,  San  Francisco,  July  17th,  1870. 
To  Kong  Chow,  Ning  Yeong,  Sam  Yup,  Yun  War,  Yeong  War, 
and  Hop  War,  the  six  Chinese  Companies  of  San  Francisco: 
Gentlemen: 

We  have  the  honor  of  informing  you  that  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  15th  of  July,  1870,  the  largest  meeting  of  the 
people  ever  assembled  in  this  City  was  held  in  the  Me- 
chanics' Pavilion  for  the  purpose  of  protesting  against 
the  further  emigration  of  Chinese  to  this  Country,  the 
full  account  of  which  you  will  find  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  next  day. 

At  that  meeting  the  following  resolution  was  unani- 
mously adopted  with  enthusiastic  evidences  of  determina- 
tion : 

(<  Resolved,  That  the  Temporary  President  and  Sec- 
retary inform  the  six  Chinese  Companies  in  this  City, 
that  we  do  not  consider  it  just  to  us,  or  safe  to  the 
Chinamen,  to  continue  coming  to  the  United  States;  and 
request  them  to  give  such  notice  to  the  public  authorities 
of  the  Chinese  Empire." 

We  shall  imagine  certain  questions,  that  you  would  nat- 
urally be  inclined  to  ask,  for  the  purpose  of  answering  in 
plain  language,  that  we  may  not  be  misunderstood  or 
misrepresented. 

1st.  Why  is  this  warning  sent  to  the  six  Chinese  Com- 
panies in  San  Francisco? 

To  this  we  answer,  you  are  the  acknowledged  heads  of 
the  Chinese  clans  that  come  to  this  country,  and  the  six 

25 


wealthy  representatives  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  having  the 
power  and  means  of  communicating  our  wishes  to  your 
government. 

3d.  Why  is  the  emigration  of  Chinamen  to  this  coun- 
try unjust  to  Americans  with  whom  we  have  a  national 
treaty  granting  us  the  privilege  of  coming  to  the  United 
States f 

To  this  we  answer,  the  emigration  of  your  people  to  this 
country  is  unjust  because  it  is  unequal.  We  have  for 
twenty  years,  even  before  the  Burlingame  Treaty,  been 
permitting  your  people  to  come  among  us  and  enjoy  the 
commercial  advantages  of  our  country;  your  laborers 
have  dug  our  gold,  carried  it  away  and  impoverished  our 
mines;  they  have  entered  into  competition  with  our 
washer-women,  our  mechanics,  our  laborers,  our  man- 
servants and  our  maid-servants,  at  such  prices  as  to  drive 
them  to  the  verge  of  starvation;  your  people  have  com- 
paratively no  families,  while  ours  have  wives  and  children 
to  support;  they  are  not  to  any  great  extent  consumers 
of  our  produce:  their  habits  and  morals  are  contaminating 
our  people;  every  day  they  are  becoming  more  and  more 
repulsive  to  the  freemen  of  our  nation. 

Our  people  cannot  enter  into  the  interior  of  your 
country  and  quietly  enjoy  the  advantages  of  your  gov- 
ernment; true,  our  government  by  treaty  has  granted  you 
the  privilege  of  coming  to  this  country,  but  ours  is  a 
government  of  the  people;  the  President  and  Senate  who 
are  the  treaty  making  power  are  their  creatures  holding 
their  offices  for  but  four  and  six  years;  if  they  do  wrong 
or  commit  an  error,  we  elect  others  to  correct  the  mistakes 
of  the  past  and  do  our  bidding  in  the  future. 

We  live  up  to  agreement  in  our  treaties,  and  abolish 
them  when  they  become  oppressive;  such  must  be  the 
case  with  the  treaty  we  have  made  with  China,  as  our 
national  election  is  fast  approaching  and  will  turn  upon 
that,  as  well  as  other  questions  agitating  the  labor  inter- 
ests of  our  country. 

3d.  Why  is  it  unsafe  for  Chinamen  to  come  to  this 
country  when  the  government  of  the  United  States  is 
pledged  to  protect  themf 

To  this  we  answer:  as  the  government  has  made  a  treaty 

26 


with  your  Empire  it  will  abide  by  and  sustain  it,  as  far 
as  it  has  the  power  to  do  so,  but  the  power  is  in  the  people. 
Since  the  formation  of  our  government,  when  legal  means 
were  too  slow,  the  people  would  not  wait,  and  have  often 
visited  justice  upon  wrong  doers.  For  murder  they  have 
taken  life  without  law,  and  inflicted  other  punishment 
for  crimes  of  less  magnitude;  organized  bodies  of  the 
people  have  sometimes  taken  the  place  of  courts  and 
juries,  and  of  governments. 

We  do  not  advocate  or  justify  riots  or  unlawful  acts 
of  any  kind,  but  as  they  have  occurred  we  may  expect 
them  again.  As  dark  clouds  rise  above  the  horizon  we 
look  for  a  storm  and  seek  shelter.  So  when  the  public 
mind  is  greatly  disturbed  by  any  great  wrong,  it  is  well 
for  the  object  of  their  dislike  to  keep  out  of  the  way. 

We  only  advise  your  government  and  people  to  a 
course  of  prudence,  knowing  well  every  vessel  that  brings 
Chinese  to  this  coast  will  only  serve  to  fan  the  flame  of 
dissatisfaction,  until  at  last  it  may  reach  a  point  beyond 
government  control. 

The  writers  failed  to  say  that  the  Chinese  Government  per- 
mitted American  merchants  to  go  to  China  and  to  exchange 
the  product  of  American  merchanics  and  laborers  fully  fifty 
years  before  the  Burlingame  Treaty  was  made.  And  if  the 
truth  were  known,  the  introduction  of  American  merchandise 
into  China  may  have  caused  as  much  misery  in  China  as  the 
employment  of  Chinese  laborers  is  alleged  to  have  caused 
here  in  California. 

4th.  What  will  be  the  result  of  our  failing  to  heed 
this  warning,  coming  as  it  does  from  such  a  small  portion 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  f 

We  answer,  your  people  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
government;  it  is  slow  in  its  movements  and  uncertain  in 
its  conclusions.  While  the  people  act  from  impulse  in 
resisting  wrong,  and  often  inflict  punishment  before 
government  can  prevent  it.  It  is  true  the  whole  of  the 
City  of  San  Francisco  is  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
United  States,  but  it  is  the  frontier  of  public  opinion  on 
this  question,  a  question  now  being  agitated  all  over  the 
country.  We  council  moderation,  but  our  voice  for  peace 
will  scarcely  be  heard  in  the  shouts  of  an  excited  popu- 

27 


lace.    The  feeling  of  opposition  to  the  Chinese  is  increas- 
ing every  day,  and  we  hope  you  will  take  our  advice  and 
notify  the  people  of  your  country  that  it  is  unsafe  for 
them  to  some  to  the  United  States  or  its  Territories. 
Very  respectfully  yours,  etc., 

A.  M.  WINN, 

Temporary  President  of  Anti-Chinese  Convention, 
M.  V.  CAREY, 

Temporary  Secretary. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  threat  of  lawless  action  is  con- 
veyed in  these  resolutions. 

The  year  1870  was  notable  in  the  annals  of  opposition  to 
Chinese  cheap  labor  from  the  fact  that  there  were  two  large 
mass  meetings  held  in  San  Francisco  in  that  year  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  an  airing  to  aspiring  orators  and  politicians 
and  incidentally  to  advertise  to  the  world  our  helplessness  in  a 
' '  land  overflowing  with  milk  and  honey. ' ' 

The  Daily  Examiner  of  July  9,  1870,  gives  the  following 
heading  to  a  report  of  an  anti-coolie  mass  meeting  that  was 
held  at  Platt's  Hall: 

'  Uprising  of  the  people  against  the  emigration  of  the  Chi- 
nese to  this  country—  Speeches  by  A.  M.  Winn,  Henry  George, 
Charles  A.  Sumner,  and  Hon.  Philip  A.  Roach."  This  meet- 
ing was  gotten  up  by  the  shoemakers  and  was  preceded  by  a 
procession  under  the  marshalship  of  Maurice  V.  Carey,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Saint  Crispins.  The  Emmet  Guard,  an  Irish- 
American  patriotic  military  organization,  escorted  the  citizens 
on  foot.  When  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Captain 
Carey,  General  Winn  was  introduced,  and  he  proceeded  at 
once  to  read  resolutions  which  recounted  the  misery  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  the  shoemakers  who  had  been  "driven  out  of 
employment"  by  Chinese  competition. 

This  meeting  is  remarkable  for  another  reason,  namely,  it 
was  probably  one  of  the  earliest  appearances  of  Henry 
George,  "The  Prophet  of  San  Francisco,"  before  any  audi- 
ence. 

In  May,  1869,  Mr.  George  wrote  his  celebrated  letter  on  the 
Chinese  question  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  from  which  the 
following  extract  is  taken: 

"The  early  Chinese  immigrants  did  not  come  into  competi- 

28 


tion  with  any  class  or  settled  interest,  great  or  small.  As 
washerwomen,  cooks  and  servants  they  supplied  the  need  of 
female  labor ;  did  not  displace  it,  for  there  were  comparatively 
none  in  the  country  to  displace.  Nor  in  the  diggings  did  they 
struggle  with  the  white  miners  for  the  rich  claims,  for  such 
a  struggle  could  have  but  one  result,  but  followed  them  as  the 
jackal  follows  the  lion,  contented  with  the  diggings  which  the 
whites  did  not  consider  remunerative,  or  had  abandoned,  but 
from  which  their  economy  and  industry  enabled  them  to  ex- 
tort large  returns."  ~"7 

It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  George  corroborates  the  statement 
of  the  Legislative  Committee  of  1862.  He  was  30  years  old 
when  he  wrote  the  Tribune  letter,  and  probably  had  not  then 
discovered  the  great  principles  which  he  has  given  to  the 
world  in  his  immortal  message  " Progress  and  Poverty." 

Speaking  of  the  effects  of  the  Chinese  on  competition  at  the 
July  meeting,  Mr.  George  used  the  following  language ; — 

"This  Chinese  question  was  but  a  phase  of  a  greater  ques- 
tion now  agitating  the  world ;  a  question  which  the  sphinx  of 
fate  was  putting  to  our  civilization. ' '  Again,  he  says :  ' '  The 
problem  to  be  solved  was  one  of  distribution."  Not  one  in 
the  audience  had  sense  enough  to  ask  Mr.  George  what  was 
that  "greater  question"  which  was  agitating  the  world  then 
and  continues  to  do  so  yet. 

It  is  interesting  to  follow  the  growth  and  development  of 
a  philosopher— as  Mr.  George  surely  was— and  the  following 
excerpts  from  a  letter  to  the  San  Francisco  Argonaut  of  Aug. 
24,  1878,  will  give  the  anti-Chinese  reader  food  for  thought 
and  prepare  him  for  two  paragraphs  which  I  will  select  from 
"Progress  and  Poverty." 

"It  is  not  as  you  think,  that  the  Chinese  are  the  cause  of 
hard  times,  our  labor  difficulties,  our  pauperism  and  our  crime. 

'  *  There  are  no  Chinamen  in  New  York,  yet  you  may  see  here 
far  more  suffering  than  in  San  Francisco ;  there  are  no  China- 
men in  Boston,  yet  white  girls  are  working  there  for  two  cents 
per  hour;  there  are  no  Chinamen  in  England,  yet  1,000,000 
people  are  supported  as  paupers,  and  official  reports  recite 
horrors  which  cannot  be  paralleled  by  any  system  of  slavery  in 
ancient  or  modern  times.  And  if  we  had  no  Chinamen,  the 

29 


monopolization  of  land  would,  with  increase  of  population, 
bring  hard  times,  labor  difficulties,  pauperism  and  crime. ' ' 

These  simple  yet  comprehensive  truths  were  contributed 
to  the  Chinese  question  27  years  ago,  and  yet  the  stupid  advo- 
cates of  exclusion  kept  right  on  and  keep  right  on  ignoring  the 
facts  that  should  be  plain  to  everyone.  I  now  come  to  the 
keystone  in  the  arch  of  Mr.  George's  philosophy— the  follow- 
ing paragraphs  from  the  end  of  Book  I  of  "Progress  and  Pov- 
erty." After  writing  sixty  pages  of  close  and  cogent  reason- 
ing as  a  foundation  he  gives  us  the  following  paragraphs, 
which  should  be  written  in  letters  of  gold : 

He  says,  "We  have  thus  seen  that  capital  does  not  advance 
wages  or  subsist  laborers,  but  that  its  functions  are  to  assist 
labor  in  production,  seed,  etc.,  and  with  the  wealth  required 
to  carry  on  exchanges. 

* '  We  are  thus  irresistibly  led  to  practical  conclusions  so  im- 
portant as  to  amply  justify  the  pains  taken  to  make  sure  of 
them. 

"For  if  wages  are  drawn  not  from  capital,  but  from  the 
produce  of  labor,  the  current  theories  as  to  the  relations  of 
capital  and  labor  are  invalid,  and  all  remedies,  whether  pro- 
posed by  professors  of  political  economy  or  working  men, 
which  look  to  the  alleviation  of  poverty,  either  by  the  in- 
crease of  capital  or  the  restriction  of  the  number  of  laborers, 
or  the  efficiency  of  their  work,  must  be  condemned. 

"If  each  laborer  in  performing  the  labor  really  creates  the 
fund  from  which  his  wages  are  drawn,  then  wages  cannot  be 
diminished  by  the  increase  of  laborers,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
as  the  efficiency  of  labor  manifestly  increases  with  the  number 
of  laborers,  the  more  laborers,  other  things  being  equal,  the 
higher  wages  should  be. ' ' 

This  is  all  that  I  can  quote  from  Mr.  George  at  present,  but 
to  the  reader  who  has  the  power  of  drawing  a  logical  infer- 
ence this  is  all  that  need  be  said  to  put  him  on  the  sure  road 
to  the  settlement  of  Chinese  or  any  other  form  of  wage  com- 
petition. 

The  young  reader  who  sees  the  above  paragraphs  for  the 
first  time  will  no  doubt  wonder  why  the  working  men  of  Cali- 
fornia did  not  accept  these  truths  upon  their  first  presenta- 
tion, and  why  they  did  not  attempt  to  place  their  author  in 

30 


a  position  where  he  might  formulate  the  few  simple  rules  that 
would  be  necessary  to  give  effect  to  the  principles  herein  set 
forth. 

If  there  was  anything  necessary  to  prove  the  stupidity  if 
not  the  dishonesty  of  the  sandlot  movement,  it  was  shown  in 
their  refusal  to  send  Mr.  George  to  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention where  his  philosophy  might  have  been  formulated  into 
the  organic  law  of  the  State,  and  thus  settle  not  only  the  Chi- 
nese question,  but  also  the  greater  question— the  monopoly  of 
natural  wealth. 

Mr.  George  was  willing  and  desirous  to  go  to  the  Conven- 
tion, but  he  would  not  submit  to  the  humiliating  conditions 
that  were  subscribed  to  by  all  Mr.  Kearney's  candidates. 

It  is  a  somewhat  astonishing  fact  that  for  the  past  20  years 
in  which  the  principles  of  Henry  George  have  been  before  the 
world,  the  organized  labor  forces  of  California  have  persist- 
ently refused  to  discuss  the  principles  of  his  political  economy 
or  to  ask  that  they  be  enacted  into  statute. 

Some  of  the  foregoing  matter  has  been  given  out  of  its  chro- 
nological order,  but  it  seems  wise  to  present  to  the  reader  a  few 
thoughts  from  the  man,  whose  philosophy  cannot  be  ignored  in 
the  settlement  of  any  question  in  modern  political  economy. 

Very  early  in  the  history  of  the  State,  California 
presented  a  profitable  field  for  the  manufacture  of 
boots  and  shoes.  An  ample  supply  of  tan-bark  and  hides  in 
abundance  furnished  the  foundation  for  the  industry,  and  a 
growing  population  for  the  market.  In  1867,  1868  and  1869, 
many  "co-operative"  shoe*  factories  were  started  in  San 
Francisco  and  nearly  all  of  them  that  had  no  internal  dis- 
sensions flourished;  their  members  making  excellent  wages. 
At  that  time  the  local  demand  could  not  be  supplied  by  the 
local  manufacturers,  and  the  shoe  stores  were  filled  with 
French  boots  and  shoes.  The  celebrated  "Benkert  Boot," 
made  in  Philadelphia,  was  for  many  years  the  standard  high- 
priced  footwear  carried  in  stock  by  the  shoe  dealers  of  this 
eity.  It  will  be  noticed  by  the  "Crispin  Circular"  about  to 
be  given,  which  by  the  way  is  here  published  for  the  first  time, 
that  the  Crispins  were  working  for  such  a  low  rate  of  wages 
that  they  determined  to  strike,  and  they  did  strike.  Bear  in 
mind  that  all  this  was  before  any  Chinese  were  employed  in 

31 


the  shoe  business,  and  while  the  shoe  stores  of  San  Francisco 
were  filled  with  French  and  Philadelphia  boots  and  shoes,  and 
before  the  market  was  influenced  by  preferential  freight  rates, 
that  always  favor  the  long  distance  shipper  as  against  the 
local  producer. 

The  San  Francisco  shoemakers  complained  of  low  wages  at 
a  time  when  a  good  workman,  moderately  quick  at  the  busi- 
ness, could  earn  from  $3.00  to  $4.00  per  day,  and  when  some 
exceptionally  quick  workmen  made  as  high  as  $5.00,  this,  too, 
when  the  price  of  living  in  San  Francisco  was  much  less  than 
it  is  now,  especially  to  those  who  had  families  and  ''kept 
house."  The  real  reason  why  the  shoemakers  of  San  Fran- 
jisco  could  not  make  high  wages  at  that  time  was  because  they 
were  poor  workmen.  Hundreds  of  them  even  then  could  only 
make  a  part  of  a  shoe.  They  had  about  as  much  skill  in  the 
trade  as  a  "handy  man"  could  easily  learn  in  ninety  days. 
And  it  was  this  class  of  workmen  who  instinctively  opposed 
the  employment  of  Chinese  in  the  boot  and  shoe  business.  I 
may  state  here  in  passing  that  I  was  on  this  coast  on  the  date 
of  the  issuance  of  the  circular,  and  that  I  know  by  personal 
experience  the  truth  of  the  statements  which  I  make  in  rela- 
tion to  wages,  cost  of  living  and  the  lack  of  skill  in  most  of  the 
shoemakers  who  at  that  time  were  opposed  to  "Chinese  cheap 
labor."  The  reader  of  the  Crispin  Circular  may  be  puzzled 
by  an  allusion  in  the  first  paragraph  where  the  local  Crispins 
warn  their  Eastern  brethren  "that  the  cheapness  of  their 
labor  will  attract  capital  and  other  Sampsons  to  invest  in  the 
Coolie."  A  generation  has  passed  since  there  was  any  reason- 
able significance  in  these  words.  Some  time  in  1870,  a  Mr. 
Sampson,  a  shoe  manufacturer  of  North  Adams,  Mass.,  had 
trouble  with  his  workmen,  who,  being  organized  Crispins, 
struck  his  factory.  Mr.  Sampson  determined  to  fight  them, 
so  he  engaged  a  force  of  Chinamen  to  come  to  his  factory  at 
North  Adams,  where  they  were  installed  amidst  much  oppo- 
sition, even  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  not  shoemakers. 
At  this  moment  I  have  no  data  showing  the  result  of  Mr. 
Sampson's  experiment,  but  of  one  thing  I  am  quite  certain, 
no  Chinamen  are  now  working  in  the  shoe  factories  of  North 
Adams  nor  are  they  so  employed  in  any  other  Eastern  town. 

The  machinery  that  has  been  invented  and  applied  to  the 
manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  since  Sampson's  North  Adams 

32 


experiment  has  been  a  potent  factor  in  driving  the  Chinese 
out  of  the  shoe  business  on  this  coast,  and  I  am  quite  sure 
that  it  has  had  the  same  effect  in  North  Adams.  I  make  no 
apology  for  devoting  those  few  paragraphs  to  the  boot  and 
shoe  business  in  this  city  and  the  relation  of  the  Chinese  to  it, 
because  the  Chinese  were  first  employed  at  it  here,  and  it  was 
here  that  most  of  the  opposition  to  them  originated.  So,  it 
follows  that  if  I  can  show  the  folly  of  the  early  Crispins  of 
this  city  in  their  blind  and  useless  opposition  to  their  Chinese 
brethren,  it  will  throw  much  light  upon  the  opposition  to  the 
employment  of  Chinamen  in  any  capacity  and  in  any  part  of 
our  country. 

In  another  portion  of  this  paper  I  will  give  some  of  the 
statistics  of  boot  and  shoemaking,  as  well  as  some  other  in- 
dustries of  San  Francisco  that  the  exclusionists  allege  have 
been  invaded  by  the  Chinese: — 

THE  CRISPIN  CIRCULAR. 

To  the  Officers  and  Members  of  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of 
Saint  Crispin,  throughout    the    United  States  and 
Canada: 
Brothers : 

We  earnestly  call  your  attention  to  the  existing  state 
of  affairs  in  this  city,  and  on  this  coast!  For,  if  ever  a 
grievance  existed  since  the  organization  of  the  Order 
of  the  Knights  of  Saint  Crispin,  what  we  have  to  contend 
against  in  this  city  is  a  grievance  of  the  greatest  magni- 
tude and  injury  to  the  Order  at  large,  if  allowed  to  con- 
tinue, viz. :  the  introduction  of  the '  Coolie  into  our  trade. 
Let  no  one  imagine  that  it  is  only  a  mere  local  question— 
for  it  will  affect  you  Brothers,  as  well  as  it  does  us  at  the 
present  time;  for  the  cheapness  of  their  labor  will  attract 
capital  and  other  Sampsons  to  invest  in  the  Coolie.  Ex- 
periment has  shown  that  to  capitalists  the  Coolie  is  fast 
proving  remunerative,  in  the  following  branches  of  busi- 
ness, which  they  now  have  totally  monopolized:  The 
Woolen  and  Cotton  Mills,  Doors,  Sash  and  Blind  Facto- 
ries, Laundries,  cheap  Clothing,  Paper  Collars,  Shirts  and 
Cigars,  and  cheap  Boots,  Shoes  and  Slippers.  Statistics 
show  that  there  are  now  165,000  Coolies  on  this  coast; 
and  it  needs  no  prophetic  eye  to  see  that  it  is  only  a  ques- 
tion of  a  few  years  ere  the  serfs  of  Capital  will  be  supply- 

33 


ing  the  Western  and  Southern  States  with  boots  and 
shoes,  manufactured  in  San  Francisco,  unless  you, 
Brothers,  will  aid  us  to  crush  the  manufacturers,  who  are 
giving  the  Coolie  instruction  and  employment.  'Tis  here 
that  they  were  first  introduced  into  the  business;  here  is 
the  fountain  head;  and,  in  our  opinion,  it  is  here  that  the 
battle  should  be  fought.  We  have  fought  them  long  and 
strong,  in  all  conceivable  means  that  were  in  our  power. 
We  created  a  series  of  Public  Meetings  of  Indignation 
against  them;  petitioned  the  Legislature  of  our  State  t* 
enact  laws  against  them;  we  made  it  infernally  hot  for  the 
scabs  who  were  instructing  them;  and,  in  fact,  it  became 
so  hot  that  the  first  factory  that  they  were  introduced  in 
accidentally  got  burned  down,  and  has  not  been  rebuilt 
since. 

We  are  still  fighting  and  watching.  But  the  task  is  fast 
becoming  too  much  for  us,  alone  and  unaided  as  we  are, 
and  have  been  since  the  formation  of  our  Lodge.  We 
now  appeal  to  you;  and  we  expect  a  hearty  co-operation 
in  the  vindication  of  our  rights  as  free-born  mechanics. 
We  well  know  that  the  manufacturers  who  are  employing 
them  cannot  carry  on  their  business  without  the  aid  of  us 
Crispins;  and  we  also  believe  that,  if  we  were  aided  by 
you,  we  could  effectually  compel  them  to  desist  from  the 
further  introduction  of  the  Coolie  into  our  trade. 

Brothers,  if  facts  alone  are  necessary  to  convince  you. 
we  respectfully  submit  the  following: 

Two  years  ago  this  March,  we  were  working  for  such  « 
low  rate  of  wages  that  we  determined  to  have  as  fair 
compensation  for  our  labor  as  any  oth*er  branch  of  in- 
dustry. We  made  known  our  demands  to  the  bosses, 
but  we  were  treated  with  cool  contempt.  We  then  agreed 
to  strike  ;and  strike  we  did,  and  gained  it  successfully, 
and  that,  too,  without  the  aid  of  any  other  Lodge  or 
organization.  A  bill  of  wages  was  drawn  out,  and  com- 
plied with  for  the  time  being.  All  things  went  on  as 
happy  as  a  marriage  bell  during  the  summer  and  fall. 
Winter  set  in,  and  soon  the  bosses  raised  the  cry  of  hard 
times,  and  began  to  cut  down  again.  We  resisted  for 
seven  weeks,  and  spent  nearly  three  thousand  dollars  in 
the  effort;  and  again  we  were  victorious. 

34 


But,  like  flu  Ixtttle  of  Bmiln  r  II ill  l<>  ll><  Kmjlish  troop- 
ers, that  victory  also  proved  our  defeat;  for  soon  our  best 
hopes  began  to  vanish.  For  when  the  manufacturers  saw 
that  their  tyrannical  system  of  reducing  the  wages,  at  the 
earliest  show  of  dull  times,  could  not  be  worked  any 
longer,  to  gratify  their  avaricious  greed  for  the  almighty 
dollar,  they  had  recourse  to  the  Coolie;  they  established 
them  in  back  streets,  in  out-buildings,  in  cellars,  in  attics, 
and  in  every  place  that  they  could  secrete  them,  and  get 
degraded  whites  to  instruct  them.  The  scabs  got  high 
wages,  but  the  Coolie  got  the  knowledge.  How  well  they 
have  succeeded,  the  following  facts  will  give  you  a  fair 
idea:— 

CONTRAST  BETWEEN  TWO  YEARS  AGO  AND  TODAY. 

Two  YEARS  AGO— MARCH,   1869.  WHITES. 

Buckingham  &  Hecht  's  Factory  employed 200 

Wentworth's  Factory  employed 200 

Wolf  &  Co.'s  Factory  employed 150 

Marks  &  Calisher's  Factory  employed 75 

Donavan  Brothers'  Factory  employed 40 

Jones '  Factory  employed 30 

United  Workmen's  Co-operative  Factory  employed.  .WO 

Metropolitan  Co-operative  Factory  employed 60 

Beers,  and  other  small  shops  employed  say  in  all 75 

Total   930 

TODAY-MARCH,  1871.     wmTES   CHINEgE 

Buckingham  &  Hecht  Bros. '  Factory  employs .  150         104 

Wentworth's  Factory  employs 30        90 

Wolf  &  Co.'s  Factory  employes 6         100 

Chinese  Factory  on  Battery  Street  employs.  .  200 

Marks  &  Calisher's  Factory  employs 60 

Chinese  Factory  on  Front  Street  employs ....     4        100 

Donavan  Brothers '  Factory  employs ........   25 

Metropolitan  Co-operative  Factory  employs.  .120 
United  Workmen's  Co-operative  Factory  em- 
ploys     100 

Jones',  Mason's  and  Emerson's,  in  all 100 

Totals    595         594 

35 


In  1869,  the  whole  number  of  whites  employed  in  fac- 
tories was  930 ;  Chinese  none.  In  1871,  the  whites  so  em- 
ployed number  595;  the  Chinese  594.  The  increase  of 
Coolies  into  the  business  is  594  at  boots  and  shoes.  The 
decrease  of  whites  is  336,  who  were  systematically  com- 
pelled to  seek  employment  elsewhere.  Men  with  their 
families  cannot  well  do  this.  Now,  Brothers,  we  hope  thai 
you  will  give  this  subject  a  careful  consideration,  atul 
weigh  well  the  answers  that  you  will  give  the  following 
questions;  for  on  your  answer  depends  the  means  of  ob- 
taining bread  and  butter  for  perhaps  two  hundred  moi 
and  women  and  their  families  from  two  to  three  months  : 

1st.— Does  your  Lodge  consider  our  case  a  case  of 
grievance  or  not? 

2d.—If  so,  will  you  instruct  your  Delegate  to  I.  O.  C. 
to  make  it  a  grievance  f 

3d.— Do  you  advise  us  to  strike? 

4th.— If  so.  how  much  per  week  could  you  cheerfully 
send  usf 

5th.— How  long  and  willing  would  you  contribute 
toward  our  support? 

Should  we  receive  a  hearty  response  from  the  majority 
of  the  Lodges,  we  promise  you  that  ere  another  summer 
passes  we  will  firmly  and  unitedly  strike,  till  the  last 
Coolie  is  driven  from  the  factories;  and  if  you  do  not  aid 
us,  we  are  determined  to  act  ourselves,  to  the  bitter  end, 
or  till  the  Goddess  of  Victory  will  once  more  crown  our 
humble  efforts  in  the  vindication  of  our  rights  as  Crispin 
mechanics,  and  free-born  American  citizens. 

Brothers,  we  patiently  await  your  immediate  answer. 

Fraternally  Tours, 
HOSEA  OSGOOD,  8.  K. 
JOHN  NOLAN,  K. 
MOSES    B.    HOWARD,  T. 
WILLIAM   P.    SULLIVAN,  F.  S. 
WILLIAM  BOWMAN,  Cor.  Sec'y,  Box  661. 
San  Francisco,  March  15th,  1871. 
Approved  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Lodge. 

Attest:  M.  J.  SHEEHAN, 

Recording  Secretary. 

36 


The  foregoing  circular  gives  the  number  of  shoemakers- 
white  and  Chinese— employed  here  in  1871.  The  estimate  of 
the  whole  number  of  Chinese  on  the  Coast— 169,000— must 
be  much  exaggerated,  but  exaggeration  is  one  of  the  neces- 
sary elements  in  the  mental  makeup  of  the  agitator. 

In  connection  with  the  mention  of  General  Winn,  some- 
thing should  be  said  of  another  famous  agitator  and  organ- 
izer, P.  S.  Dorney.  Mr.  Dorney,  if  not  a  native  of  Massachu- 
setts, lived  in  that  State  in  his  early  years.  He  served  in  the 
Union  Army  during  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  after  which 
he  drifted  westward.  Having  the  gift  of  fluent  speech,  he 
was  much  sought  for  as  a  stump  speaker  by  the  party  in 
power.  Mr.  Dorney  was  a  typical  industrial  Bohemian  and 
very  elosely  resembled  those  " professional  laborers"  who 
fomented  prejudice  and  then  used  it  against  the  Chinese  to 
enable  them  to  break  into  some  political  position  where  they 
could  be  free  from  irksome  manual  toil.  He  was  also  a  pro- 
lific writer  and  much  of  his  literary  labor  is  embalmed  in  the 
pages  of  the  " Golden  Era."  Mr.  Dorney  is  credited  with 
having  organized  the  secret  political  society  known  as  the 
:(  Order  of  Caucasians,"  whose  sole  purpose  is  said  to 
have  been  the  purification  of  the  white  race  and  the  ex- 
elusion  of  the  " Yellow  Pagans"  who  are  within  our  gates 
and  without  the  ballot. 

The  "Sovereigns  of  Industry"  was  another  organization 
that  sprang  up  at  this  time,  and  it  is  probable  that  it  had 
the  same  motive  for  existence— the  exclusion  of  labor  that 
was  then,  and  is  now,  needed  for  the  development  of  the 
State.  When  Mr.  Dorney  died  the  Order  of  Caucasians  died 
with  him,  and  when  General  Winn  passed  away  the  "Me- 
chanics' States  Council"  went  out  of  existence.  These  items 
nve  given  to  show  how  intimately  certain  organizations  are 
connected  with  the  men  who  organize  them  and  how  little  of 
the  real  opinion  of  the  unorganized  people  these  associations 
will  reflect  or  express. 

We  may  now  approach  the  "Kearney"  period  in  anti-Chi- 
nese agitation.  This  movement  overshadowed  all  others  of 
its  character  that  have  existed  in  this  State.  So  much  has 
been  said  about  it  that  I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  add  much 

37 


to  its  literature.  The  railroad  strike  at  Pittsburg  in  the 
spring  of  1877  was  probably  the  accelerating  circumstance 
that  brought  Mr.  Kearney  to  the  front  as  an  anti-coolie  agi- 
tator and  a  virulent  exclusionist.  In  1877  there  was  an  at- 
tempt made  to  organize  a  "Workingman's  Party"  in  San 
Francisco,  and  when  the  news  of  the  strike  at  Pittsburg 
reached  this  city  the  members  of  that  party  called  a  sympa- 
thetic meeting  on  the  "Sand  Lot"— the  ground  that  is  now 
enclosed  by  the  angle  of  the  northeast  corner  of  Market  and 
City  Hall  avenue.  The  speakers  at  that  meeting  were  full 
of  enthusiasm,  but  were  well  under  control  of  their  organ- 
izers, so  much  so  that  Dr.  O'Donnell  was  refused  permission 
to  speak  from  the  main  platform  on  the  ground  that  he  was 
an  incendiary  demagogue  making  inflammatory  speeches 
against  the  Chinese. 

The  speakers  at  this  original  "Sand  Lot"  meeting  studious- 
ly refrained  from  any  mention  of  Chinese  competition,  ex- 
cept to  tell  their  audience  that  it  was  not  a  basic  question  and 
that  it  made  little  difference  to  the  laborer  who  competed 
with  him  if  he  was  to  be  denied  access  to  natural  opportuni- 
ties and  did  not  get  the  full  reward  of  his  labor.  In  truth, 
many  of  the  leading  spirits  of  this  historic  meeting  were 
Socialists,  opposed  then,  as  they  are  now,  to  reformers  whose 
only  stock  in  trade  was  the  exclusion  of  their  fellow-workers. 
When  the  meeting  was  over  O'Donnell's  partisans  tried  to 
stampede  the  crowd  into  Chinatown,  and  many  of  them  went 
in  that  direction,  assaulting  innocent  Chinamen  and  wreck- 
ing Chinese  wash  houses  on  the  way.  The  police  were  warned 
of  what  might  happen  and  they  dispersed  the  mob  before  it 
reached  the  territory  north  of  California  street. 

Mr.  Kearney  was  not  a  speaker  at  that  meeting.  On  the 
contrary,  he  was  a  member  of  the  "Pickhandle  Brigade,"  a 
temporary  body  organized  to  preserve  order.  But  before 
another  year  had  passed  he  captured  the  party  that  got  up 
the  first  "Sand  Lot"  meeting  and  his  shibboleth,  "the  Chi- 
nese must  go,"  was  repeated  with  nauseating  frequency  from 
uTar  Flat"  to  "Nob  Hill."  From  that  time  on  the  "Sand 
Lot"  was  the  main  forum  of  the  Kearney  movement.  Anti- 
poolie  clubs  were  organized  all  over  the  city.  The  ostensible 

38 


purpose  was  the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese,  but  Kearney  had 
greater  ambitions.  He  used  the  "Sand  Lot"  slogan  merely 
lo  appeal  to  the  brutal  instinct  of  his  followers.  His  real 
purpose  was  to  found  and  control  a  political  party  having  for 
its  object  the  amelioration  of  all  the  political  evils  that  were 
complained  of  by  the  workman. 

And  if  the  people  of  California  have  a  Constitution  today 
that  hinders  the  spoilsman  and  serves  the  railroad  corpora- 
tions they  may  thank  Denis  Kearney  and  the  late  Charles  de 
Young  for  that  instrument. 

No  document  relating  in  any  way  to  a  sketch  of  the  anti- 
Chinese  movement  in  this  State  would  be  at  all  complete  with- 
out a  notice  of  "Dr.  C.  C.  O'Donnell,"  who  was  a  rabid  anti- 
Chinese  orator  long  before  Mr.  Kearney  engaged  in  the  cru- 
sade. O'Donnell  has  been  for  many  years  and  is  now  a 
practicing  physician  in  this  city.  But  he  seems  to  have  had 
time  enough  during  the  intervals  of  his  practice  to  deliver 
hundreds  of  anti-Chinese  speeches,  most  of  them  of  the  most 
virulent  character.  In  the  excitement  of  the  Kearney  move- 
ment O'Donnell  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention. 


Thou  shalt  neither  vex  a  stranger,  nor  oppress  him; 

For  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt." — Exod.  22:21. 

"Be  indulgent  in  treatment  of  strangers." — Confucius. 


Reviving  Dead  Issue. 


When  we  know  the  origin,  the  object,  and  the  character  of 
the  people  engaged  in  any  one  of  a  series  of  movements  we 
are  in  a  position  to  understand  all  movements  similar  in 
character  and  aim.  This  may  be  applied  to  the  Anti-Asiatic 
Movement  that  is  just  now  strenuously  striving  to  obtain  a 
hearing  from  the  American  people. 

Those  who  have  followed  the  various  Anti-Chinese  crusades 
that  have  originated  in  California  will  see  that  the  present 
movement  is  somewhat  different  from  any  of  the  previous  ones 
both  in  the  manner  of  its  organization  and  in  the  methods  of 
its  procedure.  The  honor  of  organizing  the  present  crusade 
may  be  divided  between  Messrs.  De  Young  and  Tweitmoe. 
But  the  real  credit  of  organizing  public  opinion  and  marshal- 
ing statistics  against  the  Asiatic  must  be  given  to  the  San 
Francisco  Chronicle,  the  same  newspaper  that  made  such  a 
tremendous  fight  for  the  adoption  of  our  State  Constitution  in 
1880. 

The  following  editorial  from  the  Chronicle  of  Feb.  23rd, 
1905,  shows  the  position  of  that  newspaper  on  the  present 
Anti- Asiatic  crusade: 

With  this  issue  we  summon  the  attention  of  the  public 
to  a  matter  of  grave  import,  a  matter  that  no  longer  ad- 
mits of  delay  if  we  are  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  our 
social  life,  not  only  in  California,  but  throughout  the 
Pacific  States  and  throughout  the  Union. 

The  Japanese  invasion  with  which  we  are  confronted 
is  fraught  with  a  peril  none  the  less  momentous  because 

40 


it  is  so  silent,  none  the  less  attended  with  danger  to 
American  character  and  to  American  institutions  because 
it  is  so  peaceful.  Whatever  action  we  now  postpone  must 
ultimately  be  taken  with  tenfold  force  and  with  danger- 
ous friction  when  the  burden  of  Asiatic  and  of  Japanese 
immigration,  already  grievous  and  destructive,  has  be- 
come still  more  pernicious  and  still  more  intolerable. 
It  will  be  well  for  us  to  choose  now  the  line  of  least 
resistance,  to  determine  now  and  forever  whether  this 
State  and  this  country  are  to  be  American  or  whether 
they  are  to  be  Asiatic,  whether  they  are  to  continue  under 
the  sway  of  American  thought  and  aspiration  or  whether 
they  are  to  become  a  seminary,  an  abiding  place  and  an 
inheritance  for  the  Oriental  peoples.  To  every  nation, 
as  to  every  individual,  there  come  moments  of  choice  be- 
tween self-preservation  and  self-effacement.  The  former 
demands  action,  courage  and  resource,  but  for  the  latter 
apathy  and  indifference  alone  are  needed. 

And  so  the  article  which  today  we  present  to  the  public 
is  but  one  of  a  series  that  is  intended  to  show  the  reality 
of  the  Japanese  danger,  its  imminence  and  its  growth. 
We  intend  to  show  how  the  communal  life  that  should  be 
purely  American  is  being  slowly  saturated  with  alien 
influences  with  which  that  communal  life  should  have 
neither  part  nor  lot  and  that  a  process  so  insidious  and  so 
contrary  to  nature  has  already  been  attended  by  a  dete- 
rioration and  by  a  misery  that  do  but  presage  the  greater 
ruin  that  must  surely  come.  We  intend  to  show  that  the 
laws  enacted  in  restraint  of  this  very  evil  have  been  ren- 
dered void  by  subtle  evasion,  and  that  official  vigilance 
has  been  set  at  naught  by  a  cunning  and  elaborate 
mechanism  that  grows  more  intricate  day  by  day,  as  it 
grows  also  more  effective  and  more  destructive.  We  shall 
show  the  nature  of  that  mechanism,  its  subtle  interference 
with  industry,  with  wages  and  with  social  life,  and  what 
the  end  of  it  must  surely  be  when  increased  power  brings 
increased  opportunity  to  set  at  defiance  American  ideals 
and  to  reduce  the  standards  of  American  life  to  the  penu- 
ries and  the  squalors  of  the  Orient. 

This  is  a  matter  first  for  California  and  for  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  secondly  for  the  whole  Nation.  California 

41 


stands  today  as  an  open  door  for  Japan  and  for  Asia, 
and  when  those  portals  have  been  passed,  the  road  to  the 
Asiatic  is  unbarred.    The  duty  that  California  must  now 
perform  is  rendered  not  more  to  herself  than  to  the  high 
interests  of  the  Union  to  which  she  belongs,  and  it  is  a 
duty  that  demands  vigilance  and  courage  and  the  su- 
preme will  to  overcome  and  to  go  forward. 
It  will  be  seen  by  the  closing  paragraph  of  the  Chronicle 
unote"  that  the  editor  takes  himself  seriously,  and  that  he 
is  assuming  to  some  extent  the  "white  man's  burden"  for 
California  in  relation  "to  the  high  interests  of  the  Union  to 
which  she  belongs."     This  is  a  favorite  pose  with  nearly  all 
our  demagogues.    They  would  have  their  readers  believe  that 
they  are  the  sentinels  on  the  outposts  of  liberty,  and  they 
continually  ask  us  to  accept  their  feverish  dreams  as  veritable 
inspiration.  From  February  23rd  until  May  7th,  the  Chronicle 
kept  grinding  out  doleful  warnings  against  the  disasters  that 
were  in  store  for  the  American  people  if  the  peaceful  invasion 
of  the  Asiatic  was  not  checked. 

The  Chronicle  of  March  4th,  reported  a  meeting  of  the 
Building  Trades  Council,  at  which  the  Asiatic  invasion  was 
discussed,  and  a  resolution  was  introduced  by  Mr.  O.  A. 
Tweitmoe,  the  Secretary,  protesting 

against  the  national  policy,  laws,  and  treaties  which  allow 
Japanese  to  enter  our  ports,  to  the  great  detriment  of  our 
citizenship,  our  standard  of  living,  and  the  progress  of 
American  civilization." 

This  is  probably  the  earliest  mention  of  the  ubiquitous  Mr. 
Tveitmoe  in  relation  to  the  present  exclusion  crusade. 

Mr.  Tweitmoe,  with  the  machinery  of  the  Unions  at  his  dis- 
posal, lost  no  time  in  bringing  the  matter  before  the  various 
trades  not  connected  with  his  special  organization.  From  the 
inception  of  the  crusade  great  pains  were  taken  to  impress 
the  people  with  the  idea  that  this  movement  against  the 
Asiatic  comes  direct  from  the  people,  and  that  it  was  not  an 
outgrowth  of  the  Building  Trades  Council  and  a  daily  news- 
paper. 

A  series  of  dispatches  from  various  labor  unions  throughout 
the  country  was  printed  in  the  Chronicle  of  April  30,  show- 
ing that  much  preliminary  work  was  done  before  the  exclu- 
sioriists  held  their  first  convention. 

42 


<ireat  exertions  were  made  to  have  the  first  Convention  of 
the  League  a  success,  at  least  as  far  as  numbers  were  con- 
cerned, and  the  following  paragraphs  from  a  Chronicle 
notice  on  the  day  of  the  first  meeting  show  the  interest  that 
that  newspaper  had  in  the  success  of  the  movement : 

The  meeting  of  the  Anti-Japanese  Convention  at  Lyric 
Hall  this  afternoon  will  mark  an  important  epoch  in  the 
history  of  San  Francisco,  of  California,  and  in  fact  of 
the  whole  country.  No  movement  of  recent  years  has  been 
more  important  to  the  vital  interests  of  the  country  than 
the  agitation  against  the  unrestricted  immigration  of  a 
non-assimilative  horde  of  Asiatics. 

While  the  labor  unions,  the  wage-earners  of  California, 
have  taken  the  initiative  in  the  movement,  the  question  is 
one  ivhich  affects  every  American,  irrespective  of  occupa- 
tion or  affiliation.  It  is  an  admitted  fact  that  the  Japanese 
form  a  more  dangerous  element  than  the  Chinese  or  the 
most  undesirable  immigrants  from  any  other  part  of  the 
globe.  That  the  assemblage  will  be  a  representative  one 
admits  of  no  doubt.  Almost  every  organization  having 
the  welfare  of  the  community  at  heart  will  be  represent- 
ed by  duly  accredited  delegates. 

Organized  Labor,  the  official  organ  of  the  State  and 
the  San  Francisco  Building  Trades  Council,  in  announc- 
ing the  meeting  of  the  convention,  says  in  part:  "One  of 
the  most  important  gatherings  that  has  ever  met  in  San 
Francisco  will  convene  to-morrow,  Sunday,  May  1th,  at 
2  P.  M.  in  Lyric  Hall,  121  Eddy  street.  It  will  be  just 
five  years  to-morrow  since  the  memorable  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Metropolitan  Temple.  At  that  time  the  first 
note  of  warning  was  sounded  on  the  dangers  that  threaten 
our  State  and  Nation  from  unrestricted  Japanese  immi- 
gration. It  ivas  at  this  meeting  that  Dr.  A.  E.  Ross,  the 
able  scholar  and  eminent  sociologist,  made  his  famous 
address,  which  was  printed  in  the  columns  of  Organized 
Labor,  and  which  has  since  been  reprinted  by  nearly 
every  labor  pa'per,  magazine  and  periodical  of  any  stand- 
ing published  in  the  English  language. 

'  The  work  of  the  Chronicle  could  be  seen  from  the  start  and 
most  of  the  speakers  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  convention 
pleased  to  have  such  an  able  ally. 

43 


When  the  Ant i- Asiatic  Convention  held  its  first  session, 
the  cut-and-dried  character  of  the  affair  was  evident  to  the 
most  careless  observer.  On  every  seat  there  was  a  copy  of  a 
pamphlet  of  thirty  closely  printed  pages,  made  up  from 
Chronicle  editorials.  Mr.  Tweitmoe  assumed  the  postion  of 
Chairman,  and  in  calling  the  meeting  to  order  gave  due  credit 
to  Professor  Ross  for  his  contributions  to  the  cause.  Mr. 
Tweitmoe  claims  that  this  speech  of  Professor  Ross  was  the 
first  gun  that  was  fired  in  the  Anti-Japanese  campaign. 

This  is  an  error  as  Denis  Kearny  delivered  more  than  a 
hundred  speeches  on  the  subject  about  fifteen  years  ago,  and, 
strange  as  it  may  appear  to  readers  outside  of  this  State,  he 
could  hardly  get  a  corporal's  guard  to  listen  to  him. 

Two  paragraphs  from  Prof.  Ross's  address  are  herewith 
appended  to  show  that  he  has  furnished  the  ideas  if  not  the 
very  phraseology  that  the  present  day  exclusionist  is  con- 
stantly mouthing. 

The  root  of  our  objection  to  the  Japanese  immigrant 
is  not  that  he  is  brown.  We  have  no  antipathy  to  color, 
and  we  sincerely  wish  the  races  of  Asia  well-being  and 
progress  on  the  continent  they  have  made  their  own.  It 
is  not  his  ways  or  personal  habits.  We  are  ready  to  admit 
that  in  Japan  even  the  lower  classes  are  wonderfully 
clean,  polite  and  well-behaved.  It  is  not  that  the  Oriental 
does  not  assimilate  to  us.  If  he  does  not  share  our  social 
and  political  life,  neither  does  he  make  demands  of  us.  If 
he  does  not  seek  naturalization,  he  foregoes  the  privilege 
of  voting  for  our  law-makers.  It  is  not  that  the  Oriental 
can  whip  us  industrially.  He  cannot  beat  us  in  energy  or 
capacity.  He  cannot  do  more  in  a  day  than  the  American. 
And  if  he  could,  no  doubt  a  certain  sense  of  fair  play 
would  prompt  us  to  acquiesce  and  to  yield  gracefully  to 
the  better  man.  We  are  too  much  believers  in  letting  the 
best  man  win  to  whine  if  the  Oriental  can  take  our  jobs 
away  from  us  by  sheer  ability. 

But  what  American  labor  objects  to  is  exposure  to 
competition  with  a  cheaper  man.  The  coolie  cannot  outdo 
him,  but  he  can  underlive  him.  He  cannot  produce  more, 
but  he  can  consume  less.  The  Oriental  can  elbow  tlie 
American  to  one  side  in  the  common  occupations  because 
he  Jias  fewer  wants.  To  let  this  go  on,  to  let  the  American 

44 


be  driven  by  coolie  competition,  to  check  the  American 
birth-rate  in  order  that  the  Japanese  birth-rate  shall  not 
be  checked,  to  let  an  opportunity  for  one  American  boy 
be  occupied  by  three  Orientals  so  that  the  American  will 
not  add  that  boy  to  his  family,  is  to  reverse  the  current  of 
progress,  to  commit  race  suicide.  Everything  we  call 
progress  has  helped  to  develop  a  man  who  can  produce 
much  and  can  consume  much;  it  has  abhorred  the  cheap 
man.  It  has  favored  and  fostered  not  the  man  of  crude 
palate,  of  tough  stomach,  of  low  organization,  of  few 
wants,  and  of  little  intelligence  and  energy,  but  the 
superior  man.  Starting  with  the  Oriental  peoples  of 
Egypt  and  Babylonia,  civilization  has  in  three  thousand 
years  swept  round  the  globe,  insisting  on  better,  finer  and 
brainier  men  as  it  went,  and  now  by  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific  it  is  face  to  face  with  peoples  like  the  Chinese  and 
Hindus  and  the  Japanese,  ivho  are  nearest  to  reproducing 
the  economic  conditions  of  those  ancient  peoples  who 
rocked  the  cradle  of  civilization. 

Mr.  Tweitmoe,  instead  of  calling  for  temporary  officers  and 
appointing  the  usual  committee  on  credentials,  started  with 
an  oration,  after  which  the  audience  was  invited  to  listen  to 
the  Avails  of  certain  other  well-paid  and  well-fed  gentlemen 
whose  jobs  were  not  endangered  by  coolie  competition.  The 
following  gentlemen  were  the  moulders  of  public  opinion  for 
the  occasion:  Walter  Macarthur,  Andrew  Furuseth,  W.  J. 
French,  E.  I.  Wolfe  and  his  Honor  Mayor  Eugene  E.  Schmitz. 

These  orators  ground  out  the  same  old  grist  that  has  been 
the  sole  stock  in  trade  with  exclusionists  for  nearly  a  gen- 
eration. 

The  following  paragraphs  from  Mr.  Tveitmoe's  speech  will 
show  that  he  has  divorced  himself  from  all  the  old-fogy 
notions  that  gave  Wendell  Phillips  and  his  school  such  a 
hold  upon  the  hearts  of  the  American  people. 

The  sociologist  will  notice  that  Mr.  Tveitmoe's  fiat  on  the 
law  that  governs  the  increase  of  population,  if  not  in  accord- 
ance with  experience  is  at  least  confidently  and  forcibly  ex- 
pressed: 

"  You  all  recognize  the  dangers  that  threaten  our  peo- 
ple and  the  very  existence  of  our  beloved  republic  from 

45 


unrestricted  Japanese  and  coolie  immigration.  If  there 
perchance  should  be  a  person  within  the  hearing  of  my 
voice  or  an  American  citizen  who  does  not  understand 
that  unlimited  coolie  immigration  to  this  country  means 
its  ultimate  downfall,  we  desire  to  hear  from  him,  because 
he  is  sadly  in  need  of  education. 

"  We  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  certain  of  our  citizens 
are  inclined  to  admire  the  Japanese  on  account  of  their 
military  valor)  and  that  others  are  carried  away  into 
ephemeral  regions  by  some  unaccountable  process  of 
illogical  reasoning,  termed  the  universal  brotherhood  of 
man;  but  we  believe  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
American  citizens  who  are  endowed  with  a  fair  amount 
of  common  sense  and  a  high  degree  of  intelligence  are 
able  to  perceive  the  threatening  cloud  on  the  Oriental 
horizon,  and  realize  its  ruinous  results  to  the  future  of  our 
country. 

"  Our  objection  to  the  Japanese  invasion  is  based  on 
economical  principles,  which  are  absolutely  sound.  The 
law  that  the  producing  standard  of  living  determines 
the  increase  of  the  people  is  as  true  as  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion, and  it  is  also  true  that  the  same  law  regulates  the 
misery  or  the  comfort  of  the  producing  classes,  the  labor- 
ing people  of  our  country." 

After  ignoring  "the  illogical  reasoning,  termed  the  univer- 
sal brotherhood  of  man"  Mr.  Tweitmoe  introduced  Mr.  Mae- 
arthur,  whose  attitude  towards  the  pagan  may  be  learned 
from  the  following  paragraphs  taken  from  his  speech:— 

We  are  opposed  to  Japanese  immigration  because  we 
are  in  favor  of  preserving  our  own  interests  and  the  stan- 
dards of  our  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  and  keeping  them 
free  from  Oriental  contamination.  But  we  are  in  favor 
of  attaining  this  end  by  peaceful  means.  The  proposi- 
tion to  induce  Congress  to  extend  the  provisions  of  the 
Chinese  exclusion  act  so  as  to  include  the  Japanese  within 
the  scope  of  its  provisions  is  a  peaceful  proposition — it 
is  the  only  proposition,  in  fact,  which  will  make  for  per- 
manent  peace  between  the  two  peoples. 

No  student  of  conditions  can  fail  to  take  cognizance 
of  the  fact  that,  if  the  Japanese  invasion  is  permitted  to 

46 


go  on,  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  people  of  the 
Pacific  Slope  will  undertake  the  defense  of  their  own 
homes  with  such  means  and  with  such  weapons  as  lie 
nearest  to  hand. 

Mr.  Macarthur  is  a  strenuous  defender  of  the  standards  of 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization  and  believes  in  keeping  them  free 
from  Oriental  contamination. 

M  r.  Macarthur  is  a  man  of  wide  reading  and  varied  inform- 
ation and  he  must  know  in  his  heart  that  the  most  brutal  de- 
gradation of  labor  and  the  most  bestial  conditions  of  the  poor 
exist  in  the  very  center  of  his  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  And 
if  I  am  not  mistaken,  in  racial  characteristics.  Mr.  Macar- 
thur 's  immediate  ancestors  barely  escaped  from  the  blessings 
that  this  alleged  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  distributed  with 
Mich  absolute  impartiality  to  the  peasantry  of  Ireland  prior 
to  and  about  the  time  of  the  famine  of  1846-47.  And  if  this 
reference  to  Ireland,  as  a  result  and  object  lesson  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  civilization  does  not  suit  Mr.  Macarthur,  he  may  recall 
the  story  of  the  clearing  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Highland 
Giens  for  the  purpose  of  giving  my  Anglo-Saxon  lord  more 
shooting  ground  and  grazing  land  for  his  cattle. 

I  know  of  nothing  more  disgusting  than  to  listen  to  an 
Irishman  or  a  Scotchman  laud  the  civilization  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon. 

It  would  only  be  paralleled  in  incongruity  and  inconsistency 
by  hearing  a  Chinaman  or  an  East  Indian  mouthing  the  same 
hypocritical  and  unmeaning  rubbish. 

Mr.  Andrew  Fumseth,  the  able  representative  of  the  Pa- 
cific Sailors '  Union,  was  the  next  speaker  and  here  is  a  portion 
af  what  he  said:— 

' '  The  main  thing  to-day  is,  that  our  race  is  placed  in  a 
peculiar  and  dangerous  position,  in  reference  to  competi- 
tion with  the  Mongol  races. 

"We've  already  had  competition  with,  machine  manu- 
facture for  at  least  a  century.  It  has  ~heen  driving  out 
thousands  of  workmen  from  Europe.  We  sacrifice  pop- 
ulation to  production.  The  Mongol  for  centuries  has  been 
doing  the  reverse.  They  have  sacrificed  production  to 
population.  The  Orient  is  ready  to  spread  out  over  the 
earth  now. 

47 


"Machine  competition  has  got  into  the  Orient.  Millions 
must  seek  another  place.  And  here  they  come  into  our 
own  labor  problem. 

"Every  man,  woman  and  child  should  be  so  thoroughly 
informed  on  this  matter  of  the  danger  of  Japanese  im- 
migration that  local  matters  of  the  moment  may  not  take 
their  attention  away. 

"The  South  will  help  us,  for  they  have  a  race  question 
of  their  own  that  burns  everything  else  up.  It  is  imposs- 
ible to  get  white  labor  into  the  South.  California,  herself, 
might  have  had  5,000,000  people  to-day  were  it  not  for 
the  Oriental  curse. 

"If  this  meeting  were  acting  simply  as  unionists,  I  think 
you  would  find  that  the  people  at  Washington  would  not 
pay  much  attention  to  you.  I  know  whereof  I  speak.  .1 
was  in  Washington  two  months  ago  and  they  don't  go 
much  on  the  opinion  of  a  warkingman.  But  I've  noticed 
that  when  the  laboring  man  speaks  as  a  citizen,  the  people 
in  Washington  pay  attention  to  it.  When  the  laboring 
man  speaks  as  a  citizen,  they  have  an  idea  he  will  vote  as 
he  talks.  The  labor  man  doesn't  always,  you  know,  that's 
the  difference." 

The  reader  will  notice  that  Mr.  Furuseth,  after  the  usual 
reference  to  the  safety  of  the  "race,"  strikes  a  new  line  of 
argument. 

If  the  idea  which  Mr.  Furuseth  threw  into  the  discussion 
is  worth  consideration,  it  may  have  a  tendency  to  divide  the 
forces  in  the  inception  of  the  campaign.  I  refer  to  "the 
horrors  of  machine  competition". 

"Machine  competition  has  got  into  the  Orient.  Millions 
must  seek  another  place.  And  here  they  come  into  our  labor 
problem. ' ' 

This  quotation  is  from  Mr.  Furuseth 's  speech  and  it  con- 
tains more  reactionary  pessimism  than  I  have  ever  seen  in 
so  few  words. 

If  Mr.  Furuseth 's  ideas  prevail,  it  would  be  in  order  to  de- 
stroy the  labor  saving  tools  that  are  the  result  and  product  of 
the  struggle  of  humanity  with  its  environment  through  all 
past  ages. 

However  we  hope  that  there  will  be  no  revival  of  the  ex- 
travagances of  the  "Luddites"  such  as  disgraced  the  Anglo- 

48 


Saxon  working  men  on    Kimlish   soil   about  the  time  of  the 
introduction  of  machinery  into  the  factory  system. 

Mr.  Isidore  Golden  contributed  the  following  paragraph  to 
the  exclusion  mosaic:— 

"We  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  Japanese  as 
an  inferior  race,  but  are  now  suddenly  aroused  to  our 
danger.  They  are  not  window-cleaners  and  house  serv- 
ants. The  Japanese  can  think,  can  learn,  can  invent. 
We  have  suddenly  awakened  to  the  fact  that  they  are 
(gaining  a  foothold  in  every  skilled  industry  in  our  coun- 
try. They  are  our  equals  in  intellect;  their  abilities  to 
labor  is  equal  to  ours.  They  are  proud,  valiant  and 
courageous,  but  they  can  underlive  us.  They  have  no 
families  here  to  support;  their  manner  of  living  and  their 
ideas  of  civilization  is  different  from  ours,  and  we  cannot 
have  to  compete  with  them  in  the  matter  of  wages  for  this 
reason,  and  we  certainly  do  not  desire  to.  We  are  here 
to-day  to  prevent  that  very  competition.  We  want  no 
people  here  that  cannot  come  and  mix  with  us,  become 
blood  of  our  blood  and  bone  of  our  bone  without  degrad- 
ing and  debasing  us.  In  the  offspring  of  a  marriage  be- 
tween a  Mongol  and  a  Caucasian  the  Mongolian  character- 
istics always  predominate.'' 

Mr.  Golden  fears  that  the  result  of  intermarriage  between 
the  Mongol  and  the  Caucasian  would  perpetuate  the  character- 
istics ©f  the  Mongolian. 

Which  he  declares  to  be  " pride,  .valor  and  courage. "  If 
Mr.  Goldens  predicate  be  correct,  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
result  of  the  intermarriage,  which  he  deplores,  would  not  al- 
ways be  to  the  detriment  of  the  Caucasian. 

Mr.  E.  I.  Wolfe,  an  attorney  of  San  Francisco,  a  member 
of  the  State  Senate  and  in  the  convention,  the  representative 
of  an  improvement  club,  among  other  good  things,  told  the 
Convention  of  a  Japanese  Architect,  whose  card  he  displayed 
to  the  audience. 

This  card  paved  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  Dr.  Sall- 
feld,  who  had  this  to  say:— 

"I  found  that  the  Japanese  have  entered  into  all  the 
thirty-four  trades  connected  with,  or  represented  in,  the 
building  of  a  modern  American  house.  I  had  plans  for  a 
house  I  contemplated  building  and  on  which  I  had  re- 

49 


ceived  bids  from  American  contractors.  From  curiosity 
I  submitted  the  plans  to  the  Japanese  and  found  that 
they  would  build  the  house  for  $2000  less  than  the  lowest 
bid  from  an  American.  That  bid  was  $5800  and  the  Jap- 
anese offered  to  build  it  for  $3800.  The  Japs  would  do 
everything,  from  the  excavation  to  the  plumbing  and  gas- 
fitting,  plastering  and  painting,  turning  over  the  keys  to 
the  finished  house.  Thinking  there  had  been  some  mis- 
take, I  went  over  the  plans  with  them,  even  to  the  tile- 
laying,  but  they  stood  by  their  figures.  They  pay  their 
carpenters  $1.50  per  day  and  their  laborers  about  <><>  />'  r 
cent  less  than  a  white  man  receives.  The  item  for  common 
labor  the  American  contractor  had  figured  at  $700;  the 
Japanese  figured  it  at  $250.  Is  it  not  time  to  call  a  halt  f 
This  movement  is  bound  to  succeed,  for  everybody  is  with 
us.  It  affects  not  only  labor,  but  the  capitalist  anl  cn}>- 
ital." 

The  facts  related  by  Dr.  Sallfeld  were  received  with  eon- 
iternation  by  most  of  the  convention.  A  few  that  were  not 
,nembers  of  the  unions  crowded  around  the  Doctor  to  get  the 
address  of  the  Japanese  Architect,  for  it  may  as  well  be  stated 
here  that  there  are  more  people  in  this  State  who  need  dwell- 
ings constructed  at  reasonable  rates  than  there  are  contractors 
ready  to  perform  such  service. 

The  Japanese  Architect  did  not  get  the  work  to  build  the 
modern  American  house.  But  the  card  which  was  the  sole 
bit  of  concrete  evidence  that  such  a  proposition  was  made  — 
that  card  was  probably  transported  to  Buffalo,  New  York, 
in  the  capacious  pocket  of  Senator  Wolfe  and  proudly  pres- 
ented by  that  gentleman  to  the  biennial  convention  of  the 
Foresters  of  America,  to  which  he  was  a  delegate,  as  evidence 
of  the  necessity  of  excluding  the  Japanese  and  Korean  coolie 
alement  from  this  country.  The  figures  are  slightly  different 
from  those  recited  by  Dr.  Sallfeld,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
they  refer  to  the  same  transaction.  There  is  another  slight 
discrepancy  in  the  relation  of  this  incident  of  Japanese  du- 
plicity, when  Dr.  Sallfeld  held  up  the  ominous  card  to  the 
audience  the  Japanese  architect's  offer  was  refused  and  the 
incident  closed. 

When  Senator  Wolfe  held  up  the  same  card  before  the 
of  his  hypnotized  companions  of  the  Forest,  at  Buffalo, 


the  Modern  American  house  was  finished  and  complete,  even 
to  the  connection  of  the  side  sewer  with  the  *  *  cloaca  maxima ' '. 
This  incident  is  perhaps  as  good  as  any  to  show  our  eastern 
friends,  including  the  " Foresters  of  America",  how  public 
opinion  is  formed  on  this  coast;  how  our  climate  and  soil 
produces  the  choicest  specimens  of  the  animal  and  vegetal  >!<• 
kingdoms  and  how  perfect  and  symmetrical  outlines  and  in- 
terior of  a  complete  '  *  Modern  American  house ' '  are  produced 
in  California  by  the  mere  transfer  of  a  Japanese  architect's 
,'ard  from  San  Francisco  to  Buffalo. 

The  following  telegram  to  the  Examiner  is  introduced  to 
prove  what  has  been  said  about  the  Coolie  Architect  and  to 
show  the  easy  manner  in  which  even  Eastern  audiences  are 
converted,  when  the  right  man  presents  the  proper  evidence  :  — 

FORESTERS  FAVOR  EXCLUSION  OF  JAPANESE. 

BUFFALO,  August  25.— The  Foresters  of  America  in 
biennial  convention  here  to-day  unanimously  passed  a  res- 
olution favoring  exclusion  of  Japanese  from  the  United 
States  on  the  same  line  as  the  Chinese  exclusion.  The 
resolution  was  introduced  by  E.  I.  Wolfe,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, President  pro  tern,  of  the  California  Japanese  Ex- 
clusion Society.  He  explained  that  the  resolution  was  di- 
rected against  only  the  Japanese  and  Korean  coolie  ele- 
ment, which  he  is  said  is  as  detrimental  as  Chinese  coolie 
immigration.  They  have  even  gone  into  the  contracting 
business  in  California,  he  said,  and  he  cited  an  instance 
where  a  Japanese  contractor  built  a  house  for  $4500 
where  an  American  could  not  do  it  for  less  than  $6500. 

As  an  educating  incident  I  think  that  the  lesson  of  the 
Japanese  Architect's  offer  to  construct  a  Modern  American 
house  for  a  sum  one  fourth  less  than  a  white  man  would  per- 
form the  same  service,  shows  how  much  we  have  to  pay  for  the 
luxury  of  trade  unions. 

After  listening  to  the  stock  speeches— some  of  which  I  have 
quoted  from  the  press  reports,  the  first  meeting  of  the  Anti- 
Japanese  League  adjourned  to  meet  the  following  Sunday. 

On  which  occasion  the  organization  was  perfected.  The 
fallowing  preamble  to  five  long  stereotyped  resolutions  was 
passed : 


Whereas,  The  menace  of  Chinese  labor,  now  greatly 
allayed  by  the  passage  and  enforcement  of  the  Chinese 
exclusion  act,  has  been  succeeded  by  an  evil  similar 
in  general  character  but  much  more  threatening  in  its 
possibilities,  to  wit,  the  immigration  to  the  United  Stai.es 
and  its  insular  territories  of  large  and  increasing  numbers 
of  Japanese  and  Corean  laborers;  and,  whereas,  the  Amer- 
ican public  sentiment  against  the  immigration  of  Chi- 
nese labor  as  crystallized  in  the  enactment  of  the  Chi- 
nese exclusion  act,  finds  still  stronger  justification  in 
demanding  prompt  and  adequate  measures  of  protection 
against  the  immigration  of  Japanese  and  Corean  labort  on 
the  grounds,  first,  that  the  wage  and  living  standards  of 
such  labor  are  dangerous  to,  and  must,  if  granted  recog- 
nition in  the  United  States,  prove  destructive  of  the  Amer- 
ican standards  in  these  essential  respects;  secondly,  that 
the  racial  incompatibility,  as  between  the  peoples  of  the 
Orient  and  the  United  States,  presents  a  problem  of  race 
preservation  which  it  is  our  imperative  duty  to  solve  in 
our  own  favor,  and  which  can  only  be  thus  solved  by  « 
policy  of  exclusion;  and,  whereas,  the  systematic  coloniza- 
tion by  these  Orientals  of  our  insular  territory  in  the 
Pacific  and  the  threatened  and  partly  accomplished 
extension  of  that  system  to  the  Pacific  Coast  and  other 
Western  localities  of  the  United  States  constitutes  * 
standing  danger,  not  only  to  domestic  peace,  but  to  the 
continuance  of  friendly  relations  between  the  nations 
concerned. 

Chairman  Tveitmoe  complimented  and  thanked  the  Chron- 
icle for  its  report  of  the  initiatory  meeting  of  last  Sunday, 
and  finished  his  speech  with  the  following  mild  paragraph: 
"Fighting  is  not  our  business.  The  bullets  we  use  are  the 
bullets  of  reason.  But  I  want  to  tell  the  world  that  the  work- 
ing man  of  the  United  States  will  rather  fight  to  show  that  he 
is  a  free  man  than  walk  under  the  yoke  of  Asiatic  slavery. ' ' 

The  foregoing  "  Whereas"  and  the  excerpt  from  Mr.  Tveit- 
moe's  speech  very  properly  wind  up  the  proceedings  of  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Anti-Asiatic  League.  The  proceeding! 
extended  to  two  occasions,  but  they  were  really  parts  of  one 
event,  and  the  participants  no  doubt,  think,  that  the  first 

C2 


meeting  of  their  convention  will  rank  in  Pacific  Coast  history 
with  the  original  sand  lot  meeting,  from  which  such  important 
results  followed. 

The  Chronicle  gave  the  Meeting  a  page  in  its  issue  of  May 
3th,  and  in  an  editorial  of  May  9th  it  printed  the  following:— 
'The  Anti-  Japanese  convention,  which  met  in  this  city  on 
Sunday,  although  mainly  composed  of  delegates  from  organ- 
ized bodies  of  manual  workers,  desire  to  be  considered  and  is 
sntitled  to  be  considered  as  a  representative  body  of  Amcriean 
citizens  and  not  the  representatives  of  any  particular  class". 

This  is  apologetic,  but  it  voices  the  sentiments  of  the  ei- 
zlusionists.  They  fear  lest  the  people  doubt  that  they  are  a 
patriotic  body  of  American  citizens  who  have  rushed  spon- 
taneously to  repel  the  "yellow  invader." 

In  giving  space  to  the  excerpts  from  speeches  that 
were  made,  and  the  resolutions  that  were  passed  at  the 
first  meeting  of  the  Anti- Asiatic  League  I  am  concentrating 
material  for  the  publicist,  and  incidentally  exposing  to  the  dis- 
interested reader  the  slender  foundation  and  the  flimsy  frame- 
work upon  which  the  public  opinion  of  California  rests.  And 
further,  in  giving  the  extracts  from  their  speeches  and  resolu- 
tions I  have  published  all  that  they  may  be  expected  to  utter, 
because  their  theme  is  narrow  and  it  has  been  worn  thread- 
bare before  they  came  on  the  stage.  As  a  spontaneous  enthus- 
iastic mass-meeting  which  had  been  advertised  by  a  daily  news- 
paper of  general  circulation,  and  the  machinery  of  a  powerful 
trades  union  with  national  affiliations  for  a  period  of  at  least 
sixty  days— the  first  meeting  of  the  Anti- Asiatic  convention 
was  a  failure,  both  in  numbers  and  in  enthusiasm.  The  speakers 
at  the  convention  did  not  represent  the  people  of  California, 
nor  does  the  Building  Trades  Council  represent  the  people  of 
the  City  of  San  Francisco. 

The  Chronicle,  in  the  editorial  just  quoted,  says  that '  *  Some 
of  our  Eastern  contemporaries  are  inclined  to  make  light  of 
this  movement".  It  would  be  somewhat  strange  if  our  East- 
ern friends  did  not  take  our  measure  occasionally. 

When  they  read  of  conventions  passing  resolutions  against 
the  admission  of  intelligent  laborers  into  a  state  whose  nat- 
ural wealth  is  inexhaustible  and  whose  labor  force  is  ex- 
feremely  limited,  it  requires  more  than  the  sophistry  of  the 

S3 


Tweitmoes  and  Macarthurs  to  make  anything  like  a  reasonable 
showing  for  their  side  of  the  subject. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  the  record  of  the  Exclusion 
League  it  may  be  appropriate  to  say  a  word  about  Mr.  Tweit- 
moe,  its  President  and  ubiquitous  spokesman.  Mr.  Tweitmoe 
is  a  Scandinavian  by  birth  and  in  physique  is  certainly  a 
worthy  descendant  of  the  Northern  pirates,  or  Vikings,  who 
struck  terror  through  the  British  Isles,  prior  to  the  Battle  of 
Hastings.  He  is  a  cement  worker  by  trade,  but  by  present 
occupation  the  Recording  and  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
San  Francisco  Building  Trades  Council  and  Secretary  of  the 
State  organization  of  that  name.  He  is  also  the  editor 
of  "Organized  Labor/'  an  8-page  weekly  newspaper,  the 
organ  of  the  Building  Trades  of  this  City  and  State  and  of 
their  affiliations. 

Mr.  Tweitmoe  is  a  forcible  writer  and  a  fluent  speaker  and 
no  doubt  considers  himself  the  center  of  a  great  movement. 
That  he  takes  himself  seriously  will  be  seen  from  the  follow- 
ing speech  which  he  recently  made  to  the  "boys" : 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  and  delegates,  we  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  have  been  pre-eminently  charged  with  the  duty  of 
guarding  Christian  civilization  against  the  deadly  influ- 
ence of  Asiatic  aggression.  We  admire  the  Japanese  for 
their  patriotism,  their  bravery  and  their  ivillingness  to 
learn;  they  are  great  copyists;  but  we  hate  their  loose 
morals,  their  inherited  vices,  and  their  deplorable  stand- 
ard of  living.  We  do  not  object  to  the  Orientals  because 
of  their  race,  creed  or  color,  but  we  do  deny  them  a  right 
to  a  share  of  our  civilization,  of  our  liberal  institutions, 
because  their  presence  among  us  will  tend  to  undermine, 
and  eventually  destroy  all  that  we,  and  all  that  our  fore- 
fathers for  hundreds  of  generations  past,  have  built  up. 
Let  the  Mongolian,  the  Malay,  and  all  other  mongrel 
offsprings  of  the  Asiatic  stay  in  the  country  given  them 
by  God  Almighty.  We  want  America  for  the  Americans, 
and  we  want  Asia  for  the  Mongolians.  We  have  one  race 
question  in  this  country  now— the  territory  south  of  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  line  is  getting  black.  We  have  plenty 
to  do  in  order  to  solve  this  question.  Do  we  want  another 
race  question  on  the  Pacific  Coast?  Is  the  Pacific  Coasi 
1o  become  yellow  and  the  South  black,  and  the  Caucasian* 


and  wkites  huddled  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  or  finally 
precipitated  into  the  unknown,  lost  Atlantic  f 

My  friends,  this  question  is  not  a  labor  question.  It  u 
one  that  concerns  us  as  representatives  of  the  Caucasian 
race,  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and,  boys,  if  you 
realize  your  duty  to  your  country,  your  obligations  to 
your  forefathers,  you  will  ably  guard  the  interests  handed 
down  to  you  from  the  best  minds  in  all  ages;  you  will  take 
this  question  up,  study  it,  discuss  it,  and  arrive  at  iht 
same  conclusion  that  we  have.  Bring  it  to  the  attention 
of  your  representatives  in  Congress,  your  Senators. 
Organize  branch  leagues  in  your  respective  cities;  assisi 
us  in  carrying  this  mighty  movement  forward  until  tht 
exclusion  laws  are  complete  on  our  federal  statute  books. 
We  must  make  our  laws  without  the  assistance  of  the  Mi 
kado  or  the  Dowager  Empress  of  China.  Self-preserva- 
tion is  the  first  law  of  nature.  If  America,  and  American 
citizens  do  not  protect  themselves,  how  can  we  expect  t6 
have  the  ivily  Chinaman  and  the  cringing  Japanese  legi» 
late  for  us? 

This  prescriptive  speech  sends  my  memory  back  more  than 
fifty  years,  when  I  heard  the  old  and  forgotten  "  Know- 
nothing  "  exclusionists  utter  the  same  sentiments— and  for 
substantially  the  same  reason— an  ignorant  fear  of  foreign 
immigrants.  The  immigrants  at  that  time  happened  to  be 
largely  Irish— and  I  was  one  of  them. 

To-day  many  of  the  descendants  of  those  same  proscribed 
immigrants  are  shouting  against  the  admission  of  their  fellow- 
tnen  into  the  territory  of  the  United  States  and  the  alleged 
reason  is  that  their  yellow  brethren  work  too  cheaply,  will 
not  assimilate,  and  are  pagans. 

As  a  foreign-born  citizen  of  this  country  and  a  resident  of  it 
during  the  ''Native  American"  Crusade— I  repeat  this— I  am 
very  suspicious  of  those  self  appointed  champions  of  liberty 
who  assume  "the  duty  of  guarding  Christian  civilization 
against  the  deadly  influences  of  Asiatic  Aggression"  or  any 
other  form  of  aggression.  I  prefer  the  sentiments  of  Abri- 
[  ham  Lincoln.  Hear  what  he  said  of  those  grand  old  men  who 
formulated  for  us  the  foundation  of  our  liberties: — 

"True  statesman  as  they  were,"  said  Lincoln,  "they 
knew  the  tendency  of  prosperity  to  breed  tyrants,  so  they 

55 


established  these  self-evident  truths,  that  when,  in  the 
distant  future,  some  men,  some  faction,  some  interest 
should  set  up  the  doctrine  that  none  but  rich  men,  or  none 
but  white  men,  or  none  but  Anglo-Saxon  white  men  were 
entitled  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  their 
posterity  might  look  up  again  to  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence and  take  courage  to  renew  the  battle  which 
their  fathers  began;  so  that  truth,  justice  and  mercy  and 
all  the  humane  and  Christian  virtues  might  not  be  ex- 
tinguished from  the  land;  so  that  no  man  would  hereafter 
dare  to  limit  and  circumscribe  the  great  principles  on 
which  the  temple  of  liberty  was  being  built." 
Lincoln  was  a  seer  as  well  as  a  statesman  and  he  knew  that 
the  tendency  of  unchecked  and  irresponsible  power  whether 
in  slave  holders  or  trades  unionists  was  to  breed  tyrants. 
And  so  did  that  grand  body  of  men  who  gave  us  the  Charter 
of  our  American  freedom— the  Declaration  of  Independence— 
though  some  quote  them  to  sanction  the  invasion  of  their 
neighbor's  liberty. 

Notwithstanding  the  industry  and  eloquence  of  Mr.  Tweit- 
moe  the  Japanese  and  Korean  Exclusion  league  grows  very 
slowly,  although  it  looks  large  in  the  pages  of  "Organized 
Labor ' '.  The  publication  of  the  remarks  of  Secretary  Taf t  at 
the  opening  exercises  of  the  Miami  University,  on  June  15, 
and  the  Presidents  letter  to  the  officials  charged  with  admin- 
istering the  exclusion  law  were  just  what  the  Exclusionists 
needed  to  revive  a  crusade  that  commands  no  special  attention 
from  the  general  public. 

To  deal  with  the  Taft  incident  Mr.  Tweitmoe  at  once  as- 
sumed a  new  function.  He  became  ' '  Chairman  of  the  Peoples ' 
Commitee"  and  issued  the  following  announcement. 

LABOR  BODIES  ASK  SECRETARY  TAFT  TO  EXPLAIN. 

Mass  Meeting  Being  Arranged  to  Receive  the  Cabinet  Mem- 
ber on  His  Arrival  in  San  Francisco  Next  Wednesday. 

Secretary  of  War  Taft,  who  will  stop  in  San  Francisco  a 
few  days  on  his  way  to  the  Philippines,  will  be  tendered  a 
reception  and  mass  meeting  on  Wednesday  evening,  July  5th, 
at  the  Alhambra  Theatre,  by  a  number  of  labor  organizations 

56 


and  civic  bodies,  in  case  he  sees  fit  to  accept  the  invitation 
that  has  been  sent  to  him.  The  meeting  has  been  decided  upon 
to  give  Secretary  Taft  an  opportunity  to  express  his  views 
to  the  citizens  of  this  State  on  the  Chinese  exclusion  question, 
and  also  to  afford  to  the  people  of  California  opportunity  to 
prove  to  him  that  they  are  not  prejudiced  against  the  Ori- 
ental peoples.  Besides  Secretary  Taft,  it  is  expected 
that  Governor  George  C.  Pardee,  Mayor  Eugene  E. 
Schmitz,  United  States  Senator  George  C.  Perkins, 
Frank  P.  Flint,  Congressman  Julius  Kahn,  E.  A. 
Hayes,  Duncan  E.  McKinlay,  Chief  Justice  William  H. 
Beatty,  P.  H.  McCarthy,  president  of  the  State  Building 
Trades  Council,  Cleveland  Dam,  Attorney  for  the  Council, 
Andrea  Sbarboro,  president  of  the  Manufacturers  and  Pro- 
ducers' Association,  Walter  Macarthur  and  James  H. 
Barry  will  be  present.  Invitations  have  been  extended  to  all 
these  well  known  citizens  to  address  the  meeting  and  make 
Known  to  Secretary  Taft  the  feelings  of  the  people  on  this 
Coast  on  the  Chinese  exclusion  question. 

0.  A.  Tweitmoe,  chairman  of  the  committee  that  is  arranging 
the  reception  and  mass  meeting,  sent  Wednesday  the  following 
telegram  to  Secretary  of  War  Taft,  advising  him  of  the  plans 
and  asking  him  for  an  early  answer  to  the  invitation  to  ad- 
dress the  people  of  this  city : 

Hon.  William  H.  Taft,  Washington,  D.  C.—The  people 
of  San  Francisco  desire  to  tender  you  a  genuine  Califor- 
nia reception  upon  your  arrival  in  this  city,  and  therefore 
they  do  hereby  extend  to  you  a  cordial  invitation  to  be 
present  and  address  a  mass  meeting  to  be  held  Wednes- 
day evening,  July  8th,  the  particular  object  of  which  is 
the  consideration  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  law  and  the 
recent  order  of  President  Roosevelt  pertaining  thereto. 

Hoping  for  an  early  and  favorable  response,  I  have 
the  honor  to  suscribe  myself,  dear  sir,  very  respectfully 
yours, 

0.  A.  TWEITMOE, 

Chairman  Peoples  Committee. 
June  28,  1905. 

(Examiner,  June  30.) 

57 


The  publication  of  the  notice  is  important  as  it  gives  an- 
other example  of  the  manner  in  which  ' '  spontaneous "  public 
apinion  is  manufactured  on  this  Coast,  and  incidentally  of 
the  "gall"  of  some  of  our  foreign  born  citizens,  who  may  or 
may  not  be  naturalized. 

It  is  possible  that  Secretary  Taft  missed  the  great  oppor- 
tunity of  his  life,  as  there  were  at  least  a  dozen  good  and  true 
men  ready  and  willing  to  instruct  him  in  his  duty  in  relation 
to  the  immigration  of  Asiatics  into  United  States  territory. 

Well,  the  truth  must  be  spoken,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  record 
that  Mr.  Taft  completely  ignored  Mr.  Tweitmoe 's  invitation, 
there  was  no  meeting  held  in  the  hall  mentioned  and  Messrs. 
Tweitmoe,  Dam,  McCarthy  and  the  other  great  personages 
were  no  doubt  greatly  disappointed.  On  June  24,  four  days 
prior 'to  the  invitation  to  Secretary  Taft,  Mr.  Tweitmoe  pub- 
lished the  following  editorial  in  "Organized  Labor,"  which 
no  doubt  was  forwarded  to  the  Secretary: 

OUR  CHINESE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 

"The  utterances  of  Secretary  of  War  Taft  in  his  speech 
to  the  students  of  Miami  University,  Oxford,  Ohio,  havt 
few,  if  any,  parallels  in  American  history.  When  did  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet  ever  suggest  before  that  a  law 
enacted  by  the  Supreme  power  of  the  land  ought  to  be 
broken  with  impunity?  When  did  an  American,  who 
aspires  to  the  highest  office  within  the  gift  of  the  nation, 
deliberately  insult  several  millions  of  his  fellow  citizens? 
From  Benedict  Arnold  to  Taft,  was  there  ever  a  man 
prominent  in  public  life  who  advocated  the  selling  of  « 
portion  of  the  community  and  ultimately  his  country  for 
a  price?  Has  it  come  to  this,  that  the  Chinese  yellow  gold 
is  worth  more  to  great  and  glorious  America  than  intelli- 
gent and  patriotic  citizenship  f  Is  everything  that  per- 
tains to  Occidental  civilization— the  treasure  handed 
down  to  us  through  hundreds  of  generations— to  be  sacri- 
ficed on  the  insatiable  altar  of  commercialism  f  Are  we 
to  turn  traitors  to  our  traditions  and  our  country  f 

f{  Follow  the  advice  of  Taft,  disregard  the  Chinese 
exclusion  laiv  and  admit  the  coolie  hordes!  We  must  do 
tt  in  the  interest  of  commerce  and  manufacture!  We  must 
not  hurt  the  Chinese  feelings  by  any  unnecessary  question, 

58 


because  it  is  liable  to  hurt  somebody's  interests  in  China. 
Let  us  open  our  arms  and  give  a  right  hearty  American 
welcome  to  the  rice-eating,  10-cents-a-day  Oriental  coolies. 
The  greedy  American  employer  ivants  cheap  labor,  and 
the  still  greedier  American  expansionist  wants  Chinese 
railroads  and  trade.  To  them  the  price  is  of  no  concern. 
It  matters  not  to  them  if  the  American  standard  of  living 
is  reduced  to  the  Asiatic  level  or  the  march  of  civilization 
is  reversed  if  they  only  can  obtain  their  coveted  idols. 

"Secretary  of  War  Taft  may  in  some  respects  be  a  very 
able  man  and  in  all  respects  a  very  ambitious  man,  but  a 
good  after-dinner  speaker  does  not  always  make  a  great 
statesman  nor  a  sound  and  able  jurist.  To  place  it  mildly, 
the  Secretary  of  War  in  his  Chinese  exclusion  speech  at 
the  Miami  University  exhibited  an  exceedingly  deplorable 
lack  of  tact,  and  incidentally  he  laid  bare  before  his 
countrymen  a  small  and  narrow  mind.  His  wild  and  un- 
called-for statements  may  please  certain  members  of  the 
New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  but  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and  especially  those  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  Middle  West,  will  be  heard  from  if  the  China  amor- 
ous Secretary  of  War  should  take  it  into  his  head  to  aspire 
to  the  Presidency  in  1908.  It  is  also  likely  that  President 
Roosevelt's  office  will  be  flooded  with  an  avalanche  of 
protests  against  the  reported  probable  appointment  of 
William  H.  Taft  to  the  high  office  of  Chief  Justice  in 
case  Justice  Fuller  can  be  induced  to  resign. 

"One  thing  is  certain— an  administration,  no  matter 
how  popular  it  may  be,  that  endeavors  to  evade  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land  and  thwart  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority of  its  citizens  will  in  due  time  hear  the  thunder 
voice  of  a  sovereign  people." 

After  reading  the  foregoing  editorial,  I  think  the  stranger 
who  is  not  within  our  gates  will  excuse  Mr.  Taft  for  declining 
to  accept  the  "genuine  California  reception"  that  would  be 
tendered  to  him  by  the  Chairman  of  the  People's  Committee, 
Dam,  McCarthy,  Schmitz,  etc.  In  the  meantime  a  series  of 
offensive  resolutions  that  were  to  have  been  passed  at  one  of 
the  conventions  of  the  Japan  and  Anti-Corean  League  were 
discussed  and  given  to  the  press,  but  were  formally  with- 

59 


drawn.  It  may  be  presumed  that  some  one  having  a  proper 
idea  of  the  fitness  of  things  prevailed  upon  the  ' '  Chairman  of 
the  People's  Committee"  to  refrain  from  further  insult  to  a 
distinguished  guest. 

The  resolutions  are  herewith  appended,  and  when  read  in 
connection  with  the  editorial  in  "Organized  Labor"  and  the 
telegraphic  dispatch  to  the  "China  amorous  Secretary  of 
War",  are  good  evidence  that  Mr.  Tweitmoe's  diplomatic 
dispatches  should  have  been  framed  by  some  one  not  only 
familiar  with  the  idioms  of  the  English  language,  but  also 
familiar  with  the  manners  and  customs  of  this  country  :— 

THE  RESOLUTION. 

Whereas,  Secretary  William  H.  Taft  of  the  War  De- 
partment, in  his  commencement  address  delivered  at  the 
Miami  University,  Oxford,  Ohio,  uttered  unprecedented, 
unjustifiable  and  un-American  views  on  the  Chinese  Ex- 
clusion Act;  and, 

Whereas,  Secretary  Taft  in  this  speech  expressed  the 
grave  accusations  that  the  citizens  of  this  Pacific  Coast 
were  unreasonable,  unjust  and  irrational  in  their  de- 
mands for  the  enforcement  and  upholding  of  this  Chi- 
nese Exclusion  Act;  and, 

Whereas,  Secretary  Taft,  in  his  statement  that  the  en- 
forcement of  this  law  is  extremely  harsh,  humiliating  and 
uncomfortable  to  the  Chinese,  portrayed  his  ignorance 
of  the  treacherous,  sneaking,  insidious,  betraying  and 
perfidious  nature  and  characteristics  of  the  Mongolian 
race;  and, 

Whereas,  Secretary  Taft  in  his  statements  suggests, 
pre-offers  and  insinuates  that  the  laws  enacted  by  the 
supreme  power  of  the  land  be  disregarded,  broken,  dis- 
obeyed, and  neglected  with  impunity;  and, 

Whereas,  Secretary  Taft  advocates,  supports  and  rec- 
ommends that  the  American  citizens  be  offered  and  sacri- 
ficed to  the  insatiable  altar  of  commercialism,  and  that 
this  glorious  America,  and  its  intelligent  and  patriotic 
citizens  be  exchanged,  bartered  for  the  insipid  Mongolian 
dollar,  and  with  it  the  skulking,  meanly,  servile  and  im- 
moral Mongolian  immigrant;  and, 

Whereas,  Secretary  Taft,  in  this  address,  displayed, 

60 


expressed,  exhibited  and  manifested  an  exceedingly  indis- 
creet, impudent  and  injudicious  nature  and  character, 
and  that  in  the  interests,  protection  and  welfare  of  the 
American  citizen  his  judgment,  ability  and  guidance  has 
been  misplaced;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Japanese  and  Corean  Exclusion 
League,  do  most  energetically  and  earnestly  condemn  and 
censure  Secretary  of  War  W.  H.  Taft  for  the  expressions, 
statements,  insinuations,  contemptuous  suggestions,  ap- 
probrious  accusations  and  antagonistic  views  of  the  wel- 
fare of  the  American  citizens  expressed  in  his  address 
at  the  Miami  University;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  this  league  express,  transmit  and  convey 
to  the  American  citizens  the  grave  dangers  lurking  behind 
the  "interests"  desiring  cheap,  servile  and  slaving  Mon- 
golian labor  and  who  at  all  times  are  ready,  anxious  and 
awaiting  the  opportunity  to  influx  our  country  with  this 
degrading,  demoralizing  and  disreputable  Mongolian 
labor,  even  at  the  risk  of  breaking,  disobeying  and  ignor- 
ing the  laws  of  the  land;  and  further  be  it 

Resolved,  That  this  league  urge,  instill,  incite  and  im- 
part to  our  representatives  the  urgent  necessity  to  be  at 
all  times  watchful  of  the  clandestine  and  underhand 
power  working  towards  the  interests  of  the  few;  and,  be 
it  further 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to 
all  the  Representatives  from  the  entire  western  section  of 
our  country;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  this  league  publicly,  through  the  press 
and  otherwise,  transmit  its  indorsement  of  these  resolu- 
tions. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

C.    F.    BUTTE, 
J.   GRAHAM, 
C.    F,  KNIGHT, 

Committee. 

After  reading  the  foregoing  aggregation  of  impertinence 
cause  of  so  much  vituperation,  accordingly  we  insert  the  dis- 
patch from  Miami,  Ohio,  giving  Secretary  Taft's  remarks  at 
the  College  commencement  exercises. 

61 


Touching  the  application  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  law,  the 
Secretary  asked,  "Is  it  just  that  for  the  purpose  of  excluding 
or  preventing  perhaps  100  coolies  from  slipping  into  thin 
country,  against  the  laws,  we  should  subject  an  equal  number 
of  Chinese  students  and  merchants  of  high  character  to  an 
examination  of  such  an  inquisitorial,  humiliating,  insulting 
and  physically  uncomfortable  character  as  to  discourage  alto- 
gether the  coming  of  merchants  and  students/' 

Then  he  said,  "One  of  the  great  commercial  prizes  of  the 
world  is  the  trade  with  the  400,000,000  Chinese.  Ought  we  to 
throw  away  the  advantage  which  we  have  by  reason  of  Chi- 
nese natural  friendship  for  us,  and  continue  to  enforce  an 
unjustly  severe  law,  and  thus  create  in  the  Chinese  mind  a 
disposition  to  boycott  American  trade,  and  to  drive  our 
merchants  from  Chinese  shores,  simply  because  we  are  afraid 
that  we  may  for  the  time  lose  the  approval  of  certain  un- 
reasonable and  extreme  popular  leaders  in  California  and 
other  Coast  States.  Does  the  question  not  answer  itself? 
Is  it  not  the  duty  of  members  of  Congress  and  of  the  Execu- 
tive to  disregard  the  unreasonable  demands  of  a  portion  of 
the  community  deeply  prejudiced  upon  the  subject  in  the 
Far  West,  and  insist  in  extending  justice  and  courtesy  to 
a  people  whom  we  are  deriving  such  immense  benefit  in  the 
v\  ay  of  international  trade. ' ' 

The  contrast  between  the  language  of  the  Cabinet  officer 
and  the  feverish  nothings  of  a  trades  union  is  no  less  apparent 
than  it  is  painful,  ,and  the  Secretary  might  as  well  let  his 
character  be  judged  by  posterity  on  the  merits  of  the  respect- 
ive papers.  It  is  true  the  exclusionists  say  that  the  resolu- 
tions were  withdrawn,  of  course  this  is  a  mere  diplomatic 
subterfuge  such  as  monarchs  sometimes  indulge  in  when  they 
want  to  visit  a  neighboring  territory  and  announce  that  they 
are  traveling  incognito.  If  they  did  not  wish  to  humiliate 
and  insult  Secretary  Taft  the  resolutions  would  be  neither 
discussed  nor  published.  The  parties  that  are  really  insulted 
and  outraged  by  these  well  fed  labor  leaders  are  the  poor 
dupes  who  pay  their  monthly  dues  and  are  made  to  believe 
that  their  condition  can  be  ameliorated  by  men  that  have 
no  resources  other  than  coercion,  abuse  and  vituperation. 

62 


he   President's  letter  on  exclusion,   in   Examiner,   June 
'IT). 

THE  GENERAL  ORDERS. 

"THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  June  24, 

1905. 

"To  the  Acting  Secretary  of  State— The  State  Depart- 
in  <nt  will  immediately  issue  a  circular  to  all  our  diplo- 
matic representatives  in  China  setting  forth  the  follow- 
ing facts  and  stating  that  it  is  issued  by  direct  order  of 
the  President: 

"Under  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  the  treaties  negotiated  between 
the  United  States  and  China  all  Chinese  of  the  coolie  or 
laboring  class— that  is,  all  Chinese  coolies,  skilled  or  un- 
skilled—are absolutely  prohibited  from  coming  to  the 
r nited  States,  but  the  purpose  of  the  government  of  the 
r  nited  States  is  to  show  the  widest  and  heartiest  courtesy 
towards  all  merchants,  teachers,  students  and  travelers 
who  may  come  to  the  United  States,  as  well  as  toward  all 
(Chinese  officials  or  representatives  in  any  capacity  of  the 
Chinese  Government.  All  individuals  of  these  classes 
are  allowed  to  come  and  go  of  their  own  free  will  and 
accord,  and  are  to  be  given  all  the  rights,  privileges, 
immunities  and  exemptions  accorded  to  citizens  andi 
subjects  of  the  most  favored  nations.  The  President 
has  issued  special  instructions  through  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  Labor  that  while  laborers  must  be  strictly 
excluded  the  law  must  be  enforced  without  harshness 
and  that  all  unnecessary  inconvenience  and  annoyance 
toward  those  persons  entitled  to  enter  the  United  States 
must  be  scrupulously  avoided.  The  officials  of  the  im- 
migration department  have  been  told  that  no  harshness 
in  the  administration  of  the  law  will  for  a  moment  be 
tolerated,  and  that  any  discourtesy  shown  to  Chinese 
persons  by  any  official  of  the  government  will  be  cause 
for  immediate  dismissal  from  the  service. 

"The  status  of  those  Chinese  entitled  freely  to  enter 
the  ^United  States  is  primarily  determined  by  the  cer- 
tificate provided  for  under  S fiction  6  of  the  Act  of 

63 


Congress,  July  5,  1884,  .  Under  this  law  the  diplomatic 
and  consular  representatives  of  the  United  States  have, 
by  direction  of  the  President,  been  instructed  before 
vising  any  certificate  strictly  to  comply  to  the  require- 
ments of  that  portion  of  Section  6,  which  provides  as 
follows: 

"  'And  such  diplomatic  representatives  or  consulor 
representatives  whose  indorsement  is  so  required,  is  here- 
by empowered  and  it  is  his  duty,  before  indorsing  such 
certificates  as  aforesaid,  to  examine  into  the  truth  of  the 
statements  set  forth  in  said  certificates,  and  if  he  shall 
find  upon  examination  that  said  or  any  of  the  statements 
therein  contained  are  untrue,  it  shall  fte  his  duty  to 
refuse  to  indorse  the  same.' 

CHINESE  RECKLESSNESS. 

"The  certificates  thus  vised  ~becom.es  prima  facia  evi- 
dence of  the  facts  set  forth  therein.  The  immigration 
officials  have  now  been  specificially  instructed  to  accept 
these  certificates,  which  are  not  to  be  upset  unless  good 
reason  can  be  shown  for  so  doing.  Unfortunately,  in 
the  past  it  has  been  found  that  officials  of  the  Chinese* 
Government  have  recklessly  issued  thousands  of  such 
certificates  which  were  not  true  and  recklessness  has  also 
been  shown  in  the  past  by  the  representatives  of  the\ 
American  Consular  service  in  vising  these  certificates; 
The  purpose  of  this  Government  is  to  make  these  vised 
certificates  of  such  real  value  that  it  is  safe  to  accept 
them  here  in  the  United  States.  This  will  result  in  doing 
away  with  most  of  the  causes  of  complaint  that  have 
arisen.  The  Chinese  students,  merchants  or  travelers* 
will  thereby  secure  before  leaving  China  a  certificate 
that  will  guarantee  him  against  any  improper  treatment. 
But  in  order  that  this  plan  may  be  carried  out  it  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  that  the  diplomatic  and  consular  offi- 
cers, instead  of  treating  their  work  in  vising  these  certi- 
ficates as  perfunctory,  shall  understand  that  this  is  one 
of  their  most  important  functions.  .They  must  not  issutf 
any  such  certificates  unless  they  are  certain  that  the 
person  to  whom  it  is  issued  is  entitled  to  it  and  they  will 

64 


be  held  to  a  most  rigid  accountability  for  the  manner 
in  which  they  perform  this  duty.  If  there  is  any  reason 
to  believe  that  any  certificate  has  been  improperly  issued, 
or  is  being  improperly  used,  a  thorough  investigation  will 
be  made  into  its  issuance. 

"The  only  way  in  which  possibly  while  fully  carrying 
out  the  provision  of  the  law  against  the  immigration  of 
Chinese  laborers,  skilled  or  unskilled,  to  secure  the  full- 
est courtesy  and  consideration  for  all  Chinese  persons 
of  the  exempt  classes,  such  as  officials  travelers,  merch- 
ants, students  and  the  like,  is  through  the  careful  and 
conscientious  action  of  our  diplomatic  and  consular  rep- 
resentatives under  the  proposed  policy  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor.  The  change  will  simplify 
the  whole  administration  of  law;  buti  it  cannot  be  made 
permanent  unless  the  diplomatic  and  consular  repre- 
sentatives do  their  full  duty  and  see  to  it  that  no  certi- 
ficate is  issued  with  their  vise  unless  the  person  receiving 
it  clearly  comes  within  one  of  the  exempt  classes  and 
is  fully  entitled  to  the  privilege  secures  for  him.  Accord- 
ingly, all  our  diplomatic  and  consular  representatives  in 
China  are  warned  to  perform  this  most  important  duty 
with  the  utmost  care. 

"THEODORE  ROOSEVELT." 

These  orders  are  supplemented  by  a  letter  to  the  Presi- 
dent from  Secretary  Metcalf,  setting  out  the  provisions 
of  the  law  under  which  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  oper- 
ates in  return  to  Chinese  immigrants  and  by  the  new  in- 
structions issued  to  immigration  officers,  regarding  their 
treatment  of  Chinese  who  may  come  to  the  United  States. 

On  June  26th,  1905,  President  Roosevelt  issued  the  fore-i 
going  order  to  the  United  States  diplomatic  and  consular  rep- 
resentatives in  China,  notifying  them  "That  while  laborers 
must  be  strictly  excluded  the  law  must  be  enforced  without 
harshness  and  that  all  unnecessary  annoyance  towards  per- 
sons entitled  to  enter  the  United  States  must  be  scrupulously 
avoided. ' '  This  is  virtually  the  gist  of  the  order  and  anyone 
at  all  acquainted  with  the  horrors  of  the  detention  shed  on 
Dur  Mail  Dock  and  the  insufferable  inconveniences  to  which 

65 


legitimate  Chinese  travelers  were  subjected  while  en  route 
across  the  continent  will  say  that  the  order  was  timely,  and 
that  were  it  not  that  hundreds  of  instances  of  abuse  existed 
there  would  be  no  occasion  for  the  issuance  of  such  an  order. 
Notwithstanding  the  humane  character  of  the  President's 
order  and  its  timeliness,  the  San  Francisco  Examiner— a. 
newspaper  of  large  circulation — printed  an  editorial  in  its 
issue  of  June  28th,  1905,  quoting  from  and  sharply  criticizing 
the  President's  instructions.  From  the  editorial  I  select  a 
few  choice  senteaces  not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  attempt- 
ing to  refute  them  as  to  compare  them  with  another  editorial 
taken  from  the  same  newspaper  which  I  received  this  morn- 
ing and  which  I  will  also  submit  to  the  reader : 

"A  Chinese  merchant  having  the  right  to  land  in  the 
United  States  with  a  wife  would  be  almost  certain  ta 
bring  in  a  slave  and  dispose  of  her  to  the  dealers." 

"Perjury  is  a  fine  art  among  the  Chinese,  and  they  will 
spare  no  pains  in  the  manufacturing  of  testimony  calcu- 
lated to  deceive  an  unwary  Consul." 

"Every  Chinese  official,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
will  commit  perjury  and  accept  bribes." 

The  foregoing  three  sentences  from  the  editorial  of  June 
28,  are  submitted  as  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  even 
a  conservative  newspaper  speaks  of  the  moral  character  of 
Chinese  merchants  and  of  Chinese  officials. 

It  is  possible  for  one  to  believe  that  the  Examiner's  editor 
thinks  that  people  will  believe  that  there  are  no  honorable 
Chinese  merchants  in  this  country— merchants  who  would  die 
rather  than  sell  a  human  being  into  slavery.  The  two  sen- 
tences on  bribery  and  perjury  read  well  and  are— probably— 
grammatically  flawless,  but  they  might  be  supplemented  by 
another  sentence  that  would  not  mar  the  writers  thought, 
and  yet  would  suggest  a  larger  vista  to  the  reader.  The 
sentence  that  I  suggest  is  the  following:  "This  fine  art  of 
perjury  has  not  been  and  is  not  now  neglected  in  our  own 
country. ' ' 

For  illustration  of  the  truth  of  the  above  sentence  see  the 
reports  of  bribery  in  the  last  California  Legislature,  and  see 
the  Examiner  since  and  during  the  investigation  of  the 

66 


New  York  Insurance  scandal  and  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
paring the  moral  condition  of  our  officials  with  the  moral 
character  of  the  Chinese  merchants,  officials  and  others,  read 
the  following  editorial  from  the  San  Francisco  Examimr. 
Oct.  12,  1905: 
OF  COURSE  THERE  IS  PERJURY  IN  NEW  YORK  LIFE 

MEN   THAT   WILL   STEAL   WILL   LIE— AND   PERJURY   IS   A    MERK 
JOKE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  " GENTLEMAN"  OF  HIGH  FINANCE. 

High  officials  of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Comp- 
any—an organization  for  the  robbery  of  thousands  by  a 
few  gentlemanly  thieves — have  stated  under  oath  that 
they  paid  large  sums  to  the  Republican  campaign  fund. 
The  money  thus  paid  was  STOLEN  from  policy  holders 
by  the  officials  responsible.  It  is  now  shown  that  at  the 
time  when  the  corruption  money  stolen  from  the  policy 
holders  was  paid  to  the  Republicans  other  officials  of  the 
New  York  Life  solemnly  swear  that  NO  MONEY  AT 
ALL  WAS  PAID  TO  THE  CAMPAIGN  FUND. 

You  have  one  set  of  New  York  Life  Insurance  Comp 
any  officials  swearing  to  one  statement,  AND  ANOTHER 
SET  SWEARING   TO   A   STATEMENT   EXACTLY 
OPPOSITE. 

Then  they  are  guilty  of  per  jury  f  Of  course  they  are. 
But  that  does  not  especially  excite  or  interest  the  public. 
A  thief  will  commit  perjury  as  a  mere  matter  of  course. 
It  is  part  of  his  trade. 

Theft  and  perjury  are  regular  details  of  business  life 
with  the  high-class  scoundrels  that  have  been  stealing 
from  the  New  York  Life  policy  holders— and  incidentally 
giving  part  of  their  swag  to  elect  Mr.  Roosevelt— believ- 
ing that  the  Republican  party  would  interfere  with  their 
thieving  less  than  any  other. 

The  public  takes  FOR  GRANTED  the  perjury  and 
stealing  of  the  insurance  men— that  is  an  old  story  now. 
The  public  knows  that,  as  a  class,  the  managers  of  big 
and  sacred  trust  funds  put  in  the  hands  of  life  insurance 
companies  are  THIEVES.  They  know  that  these  men 
have  piled  up  their  fortunes  by  contemptible  robbery. 

67 


They  are  not  much  interested  in  the  details  or  ike  in- 
dividuals thieves.  Concerning  the  chief  criminal  of  the 
New  York  Life  the  public  simply  says: 

"This  man  did  or  he  did  not  TAKE  THE  POLICY 
HOLDERS'  MONEY  AND  GIVE  IT  TO  THE  POLI- 
TICIANS. 

"He  swears— he  takes  his  oath— that  he  DID  steal  the 
money  of  the  policy  holders  and  give  it  to  the  Republican 
fund. 

"If  he  swore  to  the  truth  he  should  be  put  in  jail  as 
a  common  thief  and  put  out  of  his  office  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

"If  he  swore  to  a  lie— trying  to  cover  up  something 
more  disreputable— that  he  should  be  prosecuted  for  per- 
jury-AND  PUT  OUT  OF  HIS  OFFICE  AS  A  MERE 
MATTER  OF  COURSE." 

The  case  of  such  a  man  and  those  like  him  is  very 
simple.  He  has  confessed  to  acts  that  would  put  any 
small  scoundrel  in  jail.  He  OUGHT  TO  BE  IN  JAIL. 

He  may  stay  out  of  jail— and  others  like  him  may  do 
the  same.  But  they  will  owe  their  being  at  large  to  the 
fact  that  in  America  big  thieves  are  allowed  to  go  free. 
Judges  and  prosecuting  officers  cannot  see  their  way 
to  attacking  them. 

More  interesting  than  the  fate  of  the  confessed  thieves 
of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company  is  the  atti- 
tude of  President  Roosevelt  toward  the  men{  THAT 
CONTRIBUTED  STOLEN  MONEY  TO  HIS  CAM- 
PAIGN. 

We  accept  in  good  faith  the  statement  of  his  friends 
that  he  will  compel  restitution  of  the  money  that  was 
stolen — without  his  knowledge — and  spent  on  HIS 
ELECTION. 

He  knows  now,  from  statements  made  under  oath, 
that  the  money  of  Democrats  and  Republicans  was  stolen 
from  them — and  paid  over  to  his  personal  agent  to  be 
spent  for  his  benefit. 

Of  course  he  will  not  allow  this  theft  to  stand.     He 

68 


could  not  do  so  as  an  honorable  man— even  if  he  had  to 
make  good  the  fifty  thousand  dollars  out  of  his  own 
pocket— taking  a  year  of  the  salary  paid  him  by  the 
people  for  that  purpose. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  will  follow  the  dictates  of  common  dec- 
ency and  honesty.  He  will  force  repayment  of  the  policy 
holders'  stolen  money,  in  time.  But  the  question  is, 
HOW  MUCH  TIME? 

Mr.  Roosevelt  should  be  prompt  as  well  as  honest.  His 
friends  say  he  means  to  do  his  duty.  That  is  not  enough. 

He  should  say  for  himself,  AT  ONCE,  that  he  will  not 
allow  any  policy  holder  to  have  a  claim  against  him  or 
his  Administration  for  stolen  money— HE  SHOULD 
COMPEL  RESTITUTION  IMMEDIATELY.  After 
that— of  course— he  should  use  his  influence  to  force 
energetic  prosecution  of  the  national  thieves. 

I  am  not  saying  that  the  foregoing  editorial  is  at  all  ex- 
aggerated in  its  statements,  it  is  probably  far  within  the 
bounds  of  the  truth  in  the  matter  that  is  discussed.  The 
truth  is  that  our  "High  financiers"  are  such  gigantic  thieves 
that  the  common  mind  is  stunned  at  the  revelations  that 
have  been  made  and  that  are  now  in  process  of  investigation. 
And  the  law  is  so  powerless  to  grapple  with  the  matter  that 
public  opinion  is  paralyzed,  not  knowing  what  may  turn  up 
next,  but  with  a  distinct  feeling  that  wherever  the  receipt  and 
expenditure  of  large  amounts  of  money  are  going  on,  there 
may  be  expected  bribery,  perjury  and  theft.  And  so  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  an  editorial  writer  after  throwing  off 
a  thousand  words  on  the  theft  committed  by  the  directors 
of  the  tig  iron  and  steel  syndicates,  or  after  having  com- 
mented upon  the  manners  and  morals  of  the  managers  of 
Insurance  companies  now  in  process  of  investigation,  should 
when  instructed  to  write  upon  the  exclusion  act  in  any  of 
its  phrases  say  things  haphazard  about  Chinese  merchants, 
which  he  knows  to  be  true  in  regard  to  the  methods  of  some 
American  financiers.  This  will  make  nice  reading  in  China, 
among  the  people  that  are  supposed  to  be  in  need  of  the 

6y 


"lights  of  Christianity  and  of  Science,  and  the  genius  of 

Republicanism. ' ' 

The  free  labor  of  the  Pacific  Coast  will  not  submit  to 
be  driven  to  the  verge  of  starvation  as  it  was  twenty-fiv6 
years  ago  when  Denis  Kearney,  on  the  sand  lot  in  Sart( 
Francisco,  voiced  up  the  cryy  "The  Chinese  must  go!'* 

The  foregoing  is  the  last  sentence  in  the  Examiner's  edi- 
torial of  June  28,  1905,  and  it  is  introduced  to  show  the 
difficulties  that  beset  people  when  they  attempt  to  bolster  up 
a  cause  that  has  neither  moral  foundation  nor  economic 
necessity.  There  are  no  people  publishing  daily  newspapers 
:m  this  continent  who  should  be  more  familiar  with  the  econ- 
omic principles  which,  if  enacted  into  Statute  in  California, 
would  have  made  labor  free  at  least  in  this  State.  For  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  the  Examiner  has  printed  the  principles 
of  the  true  political  economy  more  than  a  hundred  times 
during  the  past  ten  years,  and  the  Examiner  people  know 
that  if  millions  of  acres  of  land  that  are  held  out  of  legiti- 
mate economic  use  in  California— held  for  speculation— were 
set  free  by  statute  the  times  that  Philip  Roach  spoke  of  in 
1852,  and  that  Mr.  Gompers  hinted  at  in  "Meat  vs.  Rice," 
would  again  return  to  California  to  remain  permanently,  not 
only  to  bless  the  people  of  this  State,  but  to  be  an  object 
lesson  that  would  inevitably  move  the  people  of  every  other 
State  in  this  Union  to  like  action.  Not  only  that,  but  the 
most  ignorant  foreign  demagogue  who  opens  his  mouth  to 
pour  filth  upon  a  peaceful  and  industrious  people  would  be 
so  benefited  by  the  freedom  of  access  to  natural  opportunities 
that  there  would  be  no  reasonable  excuse  for  his  continuing 
in  an  occupation  that  added  neither  wealth  to  the  country, 
nor  honor  to  himself.  Is  there  a  man  among  them  that  has 
the  courage  to  come  out  and  tell  this  truth?  No  man  or 
official  that  takes  a  reasonable  ground  in  relation  to  the  en- 
forcement of  the  Exclusion  law  finds  any  favor  with  the 
exclusionists.  Governor  Pardee,  of  California,  was  inter- 
viewed at  Portland,  on  August  18th,  1905,  in  regard  to  his 
utterances  on  a  former  occasion.  The  Governor  is  in.  favor 
5>f  shutting  out  the  undesirable  classes  that  come  to  us  from 
all  the  countries  of  Europe,  a  position  which— if  we  permit 


immigration  at  all— is  in  accordance  with  good  sense.  Yet, 
the  Governor  was  put  down  as  "trimming"  on  Chinese  ex- 
clusion. To  show  how  fairminded  and  moderate  the  Gover- 
nor was  in  his  statement  the  interview  with  him  is  herewith 
printed. 

Governor  Par  dee  said: 

"My  position  is  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  President 
Roosevelt— that  the  present  law,  wisely  enforced,  will  permit 
the  admission  of  all  Chinese  who  are  desirable.  Perhaps  it  is 
not  wise  to  shut  out  students,  Chinese  travelers  of  a  high  class, 
or  lona-fide  merchants,  or  even  to  detain  them  unreasonably 
at  the  immigration  stations.  But  there  really  is  no  Chinese 
exclusion  question,  and  should  be  none.  The  law  is  there  and 
is  sufficient. 

"In  California  the  sentiment  against  letting  down  the  bars 
is  particularly  in  evidence,  because  the  Chinese  population 
in  this  country  is  largest  there.  I  do  not  know  how  strong 
the  sentiment  is  in  favor  of  making  some  sort  of  concession 
to  the  Chinese  in  order  to  have  the  boycott  called  off,  as 
voiced  by  the  Merchants'  Exchange.  Most  of  the  Chinese 
trade  of  the  United  States  centers  in  California,  and  conse- 
quently the  business  influence  is  strong  enough  to  demand 
recognition,  but  not  much  of  this  talk  reaches  Sacramento. 

"In  my  opinion  the  United  States  Government  should  in- 
vestigate this  boycott  and  ascertain  just  how  far,  if  at  all,  it 
is  backed  by  the  Pekin  Government,  or  whether  it  is  merely  a 
local  agitation.  I  believe  that  the  United  States  should  get 
around  the  diplomatic  difficulty  created  by  the  present  exclu- 
sion law  by  making  it  apply  to  all  countries  and  shutting 
out  all  immigrants  of  a  like  undesirable  class.  This  would  do 
away  with  Chinese  resentment  because  of  discrimination 
against  them." 

The  Governor  refused  to  say  whether,  in  his  opinion,  the 
present  law  was  enforced  rigidly  enough. 


"Therefore  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto 
you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  :  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets." 

—Matt.  7:12. 

"What  you  do  not  want  to  be  done  to  you,  do  not  do  it  to  others." 

— Confucius. 


Era  of  Demagogism. 

The  following  paragraph  is  taken  from  0  'Donnell  's  Sandlot 
speech  of  July,  1877:  "Take  a  tropical  plant— take  anything 
that  is  indigenous  to  the  tropics.  Dig  it  up  from  the  earth 
and  send  it  to  a  northern  climate.  What  is  the  result  ?  Why, 
it  dies.  So  of  the  coolie  who  is  imported  here  from  Asia,— a 
country  within  the  tropics,  only  a  few  degrees  north  of  the 
equator.  He  comes  here  and  frets  and  sweats  and  stinks,  and 
breeds  a  pestilence  and  corrupts  your  youth ;  and  then  he  dies 
in  his  own  peculiar  rottenness.  And  after  death  he  is  assigned 
a  place  in  his  own  peculiar  hell.  He  is  outside  of  our  social 
pale ;  outside  of  our  political  pale ;  outside  of  our  sympathies : 
outside  of  our  religion.  He  is  an  outsider  altogether. ' ' 

The  most  prejudiced  reader  can  hardly  fail  to  see  that  the 
above  is  a  most  untruthful  description  of  the  quiet,  patient 
and  faithful  Asiatic  laborer.  Yet  its  untruth  is  but  mild  in 
comparison  with  many  sentences  which  one  might  cull  from 
the  speeches  which  0 'Donnell  had  been  delivering  to  San 
Francisco  audiences  for  ten  years  prior  to  the  advent  of  Den- 
nis Kearny. 

0 'Donnell  not  only  places  the  Chinese  "outside  the  pale 
of  our  religion,"  but  he  follows  them  even  into  the  most  in- 
fernal portions  of  the  next  world  and  there  ruthlessly  consigns 
them  to  *  'their  own  peculiar  Hell ! ' '  And  he  does  this  with  an 
unction  and  a  gusto  which  only  those  who  hear  him  can  suit- 
ably appreciate. 

Is  it  anything  to  be  marveled  at,  then,  that  the  public 
preaching  of  such  blasphemous  doctrine  and  the  reiterated 
inculcation  of  such  inhuman  sentiments  should  incite  to  riot, 
bloodshed  and  murder? 

When  Kearney  came  upon  the  platform  he  addressed  audi- 

72 


ences  whose  minds  were  already  poisoned  and  inflamed  by  tin- 
vituperative  and  incendiary  speeches  of  the  emotional,  in^ 
flammatory  and  reckless  O'Donnell.  Minds  in  such  a  condi- 
tion needed  but  the  electric  spark  from  the  overcharged  bat- 
teries -of  the  Irish  Drayman,  with  his  spontaneous  eloquence, 
racial  wit  and  shrewd  tact  to  fan  into  deadly  conflagration 
the  flames  of  the  dangerous  fire  which  the  so-called  "Doctor" 
had  so  zealously  kindled. 

Dr.  0  'Donnell  is  a  native  of  Maryland.  He  claims  that  his 
ancestors  fought  for  American  liberty  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution.  I  mention  this  because  the  Chinese  have  fre- 
quently charged,— and  with  some  degree  of  truth— that  the 
main  opposition  to  the  presence  of  the  Chinese  in  this  country 
comes  from  the  Irish.  Dr.  O'Donnell  is  no  more  an  Irishman 
than  President  Roosevelt  is  a  Hollander.  And  Denis  Kear- 
ney, though  unmistakably  Irish  by  descent,  does  not  represent 
the  general  sentiment  of  the  Irish  people  of  California  any 
more  than  the  Hon.  Horace  Davis  represents  the  prevailing 
sentiment  of  the  so-called  American  element  of  our  population 
in  their  antagonism  to  the  Chinese. 

I  select  the  Hon.  Horace  Davis  as  a  typical  example  of 
Native  American  opposition  to  the  Chinese.  But,  in  justice 
as  well  as  in  truth,  one  should  name  also  those  whom  Cali- 
fornia has  sent  to  the  National  Legislature  for  the  last  thirty 
years. 

I  by  no  means  desire  to  justify,  or  wholly  excuse,  the  Irish 
in  their  opposition  to  the  introduction  of  Chinese  labor  into 
America.  Yet  I  think  [statistics  show  and  facts  prove  that 
the  majority  of  outrages  upon  the  Chinese  were  perpetrated 
by  men  and  boys  whose  names  go  to  show  them  Irish  either 
by  birth  or  origin.  A  single  fact  easily  explains  this:  the 
presence  of  the  Chinese  immigrant  in  the  United  States  began 
to  become  irritating,  aggravating  and  provoking  to  the  Irish 
as  soon  as  it  became  apparent  that  the  Chinese  almost  exclu- 
sively, persistently  and  increasingly  invaded  occupations 
usually  claimed  and  almost  monopolized  by  the  IrjsET) 

But,  here  again,  history  repeated  itself.  Generations  before 
the  immigrant  Irishman  had  invaded  the  occupations  pre- 
viously practiced,  with  almost  absolute  exclusiveness,  by  the 
Native  American  laborer.  His  invasion  had  threatened  the 
Native  American  as  the  Chinese  was  now  threatening  himself. 

73 


And  that  same  Native  American  had  "kicked"  at  the  immi- 
grant Irishman  as  vigorously  as  his  Irish  supplanter  now 
kicks  at  his  own  celestial  successor.  Then,  as  now,  the  "kick" 
became  strong  enough  and  general  enough  to  attract  public 
attention  only  when  the  Irish  new-comer  began  to  underbid 
the  Native  American,— to  take  his  work  away  and  cause  the 
inevitable  resultant,  suffering. 

Another,— and  a  most  important  point  which  the  fair-mind- 
ed reader  will  not  fail  to  keep  in  mind.  At  the  period  when 
Chinese  immigration  was  greatest  the  Irish-born  residents 
of  San  Francisco  out-numbered  all  other  foreigners  combined. 
On  the  Great  Register  of  San  Francisco,  for  1867,  they  num- 
bered more  than  10,000,  exceeding  the  aggregate  of  all  others 
of  foreign  birth ! 

That  number  of  voters  would  indicate  a  large  Irish  popula- 
tion. As  a  natural  consequence,  if  one  class  of  foreigners, 
who  had  the  right  to  vote,  perpetrated  outrages  upon  another 
class  who  had  not  that  right,  the  names  of  the  offenders  would 
show  them  largely  of  Irish  origin. 

This  opposition  to  foreign  labor  is  by  no  means  confined 
to  any  race,  place  or  time.  As  far  as  history  extends  its  pages 
show  that  man  has  always  resented  the  in-coming  of  competi- 
tion. The  natural  man  is  an  instinctive  monopolist.  He 
wants  it  all.  At  this  very  moment  nearly  all  the  laborers  of 
this  city  exercise  their  prejudice  and  contempt  upon  the  man 
they  call  the  * '  Dago. ' '  Quite  a  large  class  of  them  also  extend 
their  hatred  and  insult  to  the  Scandinavian.  They  complain 
that  the  "Swedes  cut  prices"  and  rail  bitterly  against  the 
"Swedish  scab." 

Still  another  reinforcement  to  our  argument  we  find  in  the 
all-round  prejudice  against  the  ' '  Sheeny. ' ' 

Thus  it  would  not  be  at  all  difficult  to  prove  that  weak  and 
ignorant  and  selfish  humanity,— even  before  the  scriptural 
times,— has  always  sought  a  "scape-goat."  And  when  he  has 
failed  to  -find  one  he  has  hastened  to  make  one. 

Indeed  the  weakness,  the  ignorance  and  the  selfishness  seem 
racial  and  perpetual.  And  we  ought,  the  rather,  to  rejoice 
that  our  present  scape-goat,— the  Chinese,  is  not  only  in  our 
midst  but,  especially,  that  they  seem  so  willing  to  bear  the 
burden  of  our  sins  provided  the  maledictions  we  heap  upon 

74 


them  are  confined  to  "hot  air"  and  are  notac.nMiipnin.Ml  with 
avalanches  of  cuffs,  kicks  and  bricks. 

This  somewhat  long  digression  results  from  the  desire  of 
the  writer  to  place  those  two  vicious  demagogues,  O'Donnell 
and  Kearney,  where  they  properly  belong  in  the  history  of 
the  Anti  Chinese  agitation  in  San  Francisco. 

Opposition  to  Chinese  admission  and  employment  continued. 
When  crops  failed  or  came  short  or  when  anything  occurred 
to  interfere  with  the  usual  regular  progress  of  things  in- 
dustrial, labor's  extremity  became  the  waiting  demagogue's 
opportunity.  Forthwith  he  sprang  to  the  front  to  proclaim 
with  the  voice  of  the  untiring  Stentor  that  the  working  man 
who  could  not  vote  was  the  potent  and  guilty  cause  of  all 
the  misfortunes  of  the  man  who  had  the  ballot.  This  was  their 
logic.  And  the  poor  fools  who  believed  it  were  far  less  guilty 
than  the  blatant  frauds  who  preached  it. 

From  the  time  of  the  Kearney  crusade  to  the  present  the 
successive  clamors  and  crusades  against  the  non- voting  laborer 
have  coincided  with  some  general  financial  depression  or  they 
have  broken  out  in  the  midst  of  some  California  election  in 
which  unscrupulous  office  seekers,  who  are  generally  shameless 
pelf-hunters,  strove  to  aggravate  the  prejudice  known  to 
exist  against  the  non-voting  alien  and  to  make  it  a  factor  to 
be  used  "where  it  would  do  the  most  good,"  that  is,  would 
best  serve  his  own  selfish  purpose. 

But  during  the  Kearney  agitation,—  as  well  as  in  every 
other,—  the  Chinese  by  no  means  slept  on  their  rights.  They 
prepared  abundant  and  cogent  arguments  to  refute  the  lying 
charges  made  against  them  by  the  ignorance  and  viciousness 
of  the  self-seeking  demagogues.  The  writer  submits  the  sub- 
joined document  as  a  specimen  of  the  temperate,  truthful 
and  logical  manner  in  which  they  met  and  refuted  every 
charge  brought  against  them: 

CONSTITUTIONAL   RIGHTS   OF   THE    PRO-CHINESE 
MINORITY. 

They  are: 

First— To  hold  opposite  views  on  the  question  of  Chinese 
immigration  which  is  national  in  character  and  debatable, 
and  to  support  the  same  by  argument  either  spoken  or  written 
until  the  question  is  formally  decided  by  the  proper  authority. 

75 


Second— To  demand  that  in  the  meantime  the  opposite  or 
anti-Chinese  side  shall  not  be  permitted  to  forestall  the  deci- 
sion of  the  National  Congress,  to  whom  this  question  has  been 
submitted  by  both  parties,  and  which  is  the  only  civil  body 
duly  authorized  to  pass  upon  questions  of  this  nature.  We 
shall  strongly  protest,  therefore,  against  all  incendiary  ap- 
peals, threats  against  life  and  property  and  display  of  armed 
organizations  for  the  purpose  of  intimidation,  as  being  con- 
trary to  the  constitutional  right  of  citizens  to  hold  different 
opinions  in  all  national  questions. 

Third— To  require  that  the  party  in  favor,  as  well  as  the 
one  against  Chinese  immigration,  shall  fully  acquiesce  to  the 
decision  of  the  National  Congress,  as  required  by  the  Con- 
stitution. For  as  this  country  is  not  the  property  of  any 
class  of  foreigners  either  from  Ireland,  England,  or  any  other 
land;  but  belongs  to  the  American  people,  if  any  class  of 
foreigners  who  have  obtained  a  courteous  hospitality  here, 
are  dissatisfied  with  a  like  concession  made  to  the  Chinese, 
they  have  an  easy  way  to  obtain  relief  from  the  alleged 
grievance,  which  is  to  pack  up  their  effects  and  leave. 

These  rights  we  will  maintain  at  all  costs  and  hazards; 
because  to  surrender  them  would  be  to  surrender  the  best 
boon  of  free  manhood  and  of  Constitutional  liberty;  it  would 
be  the  first  step  toward  the  overthrow  of  the  Republic,  and 
the  inauguration  of  a  despotism  far  worse  than  imperialism; 
it  would  be  Communism  in  its  worst  phase,  mob  rule,  anarchy 
and  social  chaos. 

We  therefore  openly  declare  from  this  moment,  that  "if 
the  Chinese  must  go"  it  shall  not  be  at  Kearney's  bidding, 
nor  of  his  followers;  but  by  the  will  of  the  American  people, 
legally  expressed,  after  a  due  consideration  of  the  case  pro 
and  con,  and  of  our  commercial  interests. 

As  for  ourselves,  being  honestly  and  firmly  convinced  that 
Chinese  immigration  is  beneficial  to  the  State  and  nation, 
to  commerce  as  well  as  labor,  by  reason  of  the  multiplicity  of 
industry  which  it  helps  to  create,  and  of  the  boundless  re- 
sources of  our  .State  which  it  aids  to  develop  in  the  absence  of 
capital,  we  shall,  with  all  the  force  of  argument  at  our  com- 
mand, endeavor  to  dissuade  the  American  people  and  their 
policy,  which,  if  followed,  will  gladden  the  hearts  of  the 


enemies  of  Republican  prosperity,  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty. 

With  this  object  in  view,  while  the  anti-Chinese  agitation 
continues,  we  shall  publish  a  series  of  arguments  and  docu- 
ments both  old  and  new,  in  favor  of  Chinese  immigration, 
and  in  reply  to  the  trite  charges  against  the  Chinese  which, 
though  refuted  a  thousand  times,  they  are  as  often  repeated 
by  anti-Chinese  journals  and  speakers.  Our  series  under  the 
heading  "The  Voice  of  the  Minority  on  the  Chinese  Question/' 
begins  with  a  reply  by  the  representatives  of  the  Chinese 
on  this  coast,  contained  in  a  memorial  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  which,  although  published  two  years  ago,  it 
has  lost  none  of  its  force,  and  is  above  parallel  in  directness 
and  simplicity,  when  compared  with  the  windy  effusions  of 
anti-Chinese  demagogues.  As  a  model  of  respectful  and  polite 
language,  it  may  be  studied  with  profit  by  the  sand-lot  talkers 
many  of  whom,  though  members  of  the  ONE  HOLY  AND  APOS- 
TOLIC CHURCH,  may,  by  this  document,  learn  to  speak  the 
truth  from  the  Heathen  Chinee. 

THE   VOICE   OP   THE   MINORITY   ON   THE   CHINESE    QUESTION. 

NO.  1. 
ANTI-CHINESE  CHARGES  REFUTED  BY  CHINESE. 

'(a)  It  is  charged  against  us"  that  not  one  virtuous  China- 
woman has  been  brought  to  this  country,  and  that  here  we 
have  no  wives  or  children. 

The  fact  is  that  already  a  few  hundred  Chinese  families 
have  been  brought  here.  These  are  all  chaste,  pure,  keepers- 
at-home,  not  known  on  the  public  street.  There  are  also 
among  us  a  few  hundred,  perhaps  a  thousand,  Chinese  child- 
ren, born  in  America. 

The  reason  why  so  few  of  our  families  are  brought  to  this 
country  is,  because  it  is  contrary  to  the  custom  and  against 
the  inclination  of  virtuous  Chinese  women  to  go  so  far  from 
home,  and  because  the  frequent  outbursts  of  popular  indigna- 
tion against  our  people  have  not  encouraged  us  to  bring  our 
families  with  us  against  their  will. 

Quite  a  number  of  Chinese  prostitutes  have  been  brought 
to  this  country  by  unprincipled  Chinamen,  but  these,  at  first, 
were  brought  from  China  at  the  instigation,  and  for  the 
gratification  of  white  men.  And  even  at  the  present  time, 
it  is  commonly  reported  that  a  part  of  the  proceeds  of  this 

77 


villainous  traffic  goes  to  enrich  a  certain  class  of  men  belong- 
ing to  this  Honorable  nation— a  class  of  men,  too,  who  are 
under  solemn  obligation  to  suppress  the  whole  business,  and 
who  certainly  have  it  in  their  power  to  suppress  it,  if  they 
so  desired. 

A  few  years  ago,  our  Chinese  merchants  tried  to  send  thesr 
prostitutes  back  to  China,  and  succeeded  in  getting  a  large 
number  on  board  the  out-going  steamer ;  but  a  certain  lawyer 
of  your  Honorable  nation,  (said  to  be  the  author  and  bearer 
of  the  resolutions  against  our  people)  in  the  employ  of  un 
principled  Chinamen,  procured  a  writ  of  "habeas  corpus." 
and  brought  all  those  women  ashore  again,  and  the  Courts 
decided  that  they  had  a  right  to  stay  in  this  country  if  they 
so  desired.  Those  women  are  still  here  and  the  only  remedy 
for  this  evil  and  also  for  the  evil  of  Chinese  gamb- 
ling, lies,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  in  an  houest  and 
impartial  administration  of  Municipal  Government  in 
all  its  details,  even  including  the  police  department. 
If  officers  would  refuse  bribes,  then  unprincipled  China- 
men would  no  longer  purchase  immunity  from  the  punishment 
of  their  crimes. 

(6)  It  is  charged  against  us  that  we  have  purchased  no 
real  estate.  The  general  tone  of  public  sentiment  has  not 
been  such  as  to  encourage  us  to  invest  in  real  estate,  and  yet 
our  people  have  purchased  and  now  own  over  $800,000  worth 
of  real  estate  in  San  Francisco  alone. 

(c)  It  is  charged  against  us  that  we  eat  rice,  fish  and 
vegetables.    It  is  true  that  our  diet  is  slightly  different  from 
the  people  of  this  Honorable  country;  our  tastes  in  these 
matters  are  not  exactly  alike  and  cannot  be  forced.     But  is 
that  a  sin  on  our  part,  of  sufficient  gravity  to  be  brought 
before  the  President  and  Congress  of  the  United  States  ? 

(d)  It  is  charged  that  the  Chinese  are  no  benefit  to  thi« 
country.    Are  the  railroads  built  by  Chinese  labor  no  benefit 
to  the  country  ?    Are  the  manufacturing  establishments,  large- 
ly worked  by  Chinese  labor  no  benefit  to  this  country?    Do 
not  the  daily  toil  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  increase  the 
riches  of  this  country?     Is  it  no  benefit  to  this  country  that 
the   Chinese   annually   pays   over   $2,000,000   duties   at   the 
Custom  House  of  San  Francisco?    Is  not  the  $200,000  annual 
poll  tax  paid  by  the  Chinese  any  benefit?     And  are  not  the 

78 


hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  taxes  on  personal  property 
and  the  Foreign  Miners'  tax,  annually  paid  to  the  revenues 
of  this  country,  any  benefit  ? 

(e)  It  is  charged  against  us  that  the  "Six  Chinese  Com- 
panies "  have  secretly  established  judicial  tribunals,  jails  and 
prisons,  and  secretly  exercise  judicial  authority  over  the 
people.  This  charge  has  no  foundation  in  fact.  These  Six 
Companies  were  originally  organized  for  the  purpose  of  mu- 
tual protection  and  care  of  our  people  coming  to  and  from 
this  country.  The  Six  Companies  did  not  claim,  nor  do  they 
exercise  any  judicial  authority  whatever ;  but  are  the  same  as 
any  tradesmen  or  protective  and  benevolent  societies.  If 
it  were  true  that  the  Six  Chinese  Companies  exercised  judicial 
authority  over  the  Chinese  people,  then  why  do  all  the  Chi- 
nese people  go  to  American  tribunals  to  adjust  their  differ- 
ences or  to  secure  the  punishment  of  their  criminals? 

Neither  do  these  Companies  import  either  men  or  women 
into  this  country. 

(/)  It  is  charged  that  all  Chinese  laboring  men  are  slaves. 
This  is  not  true  in  a  single  instance.  Chinamen  labor  for 
bread.  They  pursue  all  kinds  of  industries  for  a  livelihood. 

Is  it  so  then  that  every  man  laboring  for  his  livelihood  is 
a  slave?  If  these  men  are  slaves,  then  all  men  laboring  for 
wages  are  slaves. 

(g)  It  is  charged  that  the  Chinese  commerce  brings  no 
benefit  to  American  Bankers  and  Importers.  But  the  fact  is 
that  an  immense  trade  is  carried  on  between  China  and  the 
United  States  by  American  merchants,  and  all  the  carrying 
business  of  both  countries,  whether  by  steamers,  sailing  vessels 
or  railroad,  is  done  by  Americans.  No  China  ships  are  en- 
gaged in  the  carrying  traffic  between  the  two  countries. 

Is  it  a  sin  to  be  charged  against  us  that  the  Chinese  mer- 
chants are  able  to  conduct  their  mercantile  business  on  their 
own  capital?  And  is  not  the  exchange  of  millions  of  dollars 
annually  by  the  Chinese  with  the  banks  of  this  city  any  benefit 
to  the  banks  ? 

(h)  We  respectfully  ask  a  careful  consideration  of  all 
the  foregoing  statements.  The  Chinese  are  not  the  only  people 
nor  do  they  bring  the  only  evils  that  afflict  the  country.  And 
since  the  Chinese  people  are  now  here  under  solemn  treaty 

79 


rights,  we  hope  to  be  protected  according  to  the  terms  of  this 
treaty. 

But,  if  the  Chinese  are  considered  detrimental  to  this 
country,  and  if  our  presence  here  is  offensive  to- the  American 
people,  let  there  be  a  modification  of  existing  treaty  relations 
between  China  and  the  United  States,  either  prohibiting  or 
limiting  Chinese  immigration,  and  if  desirable,  requiring  also 
the  gradual  retirement  of  the  Chinese  people  now  here  from 
this  country.  Such  an  arrangement,  though  not  without  em 
barrassment  to  both  parties,  we  believe,  would  not  be  alto 
gether  unacceptable  to  the  Chinese  Government  and  doubtless, 
it  would  be  very  acceptable  to  a  certain  class  of  people  in  this 
Honorable  country. 

With  sentiments  of  profound  respect, 
LEE  MING  How, 

Pres't  Sam  Yup  Company. 
LEE  CHEE  KWAN, 

Pres't  Yung  Wo  Company. 
LAW  YEE  CHUNG, 

Pres't  Kong  Chow  Company. 
CHAN  LEUNG  KOK, 

Pres't  Ning  Yung  Company. 
LEE  CHEONG  CHIP, 

Pres't  Hop  Wo  Company. 
CHAN  KONG  CHEW, 

Pres't  Yan  Wo  Company. 
LEE  TONG  HAY, 
Pres't  Chinese  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

Although  the  foregoing  document  was  published  as  long 
ago  as  March  26th,  1878,  the  fair-minded  reader  will  observe 
that  it  might  have  been  written  today.  Its  descriptions  of 
the  gambling  and  other  crimes  so  rampant  and  flagrant  in 
Chinatown  might  apply  now  as  truthfully  as  then. 

But  the  "rub"  is  here:  When  our  people  demand  of  thei'- 
municipal  government  that  it  stamp  out  gambling  and  prosti 
tution  in  Chinatown  this  damnable  and  damning  fact  con 
fronts  them :    public  authority  sufficiently  recognizes  the  le- 
gality of  such  "industries"  to  protect  them  from  suppression 
Tt  goes  farther.     It  not  only  does  not  suppress  them,  except, 
possibly,  where  no  "boodle"  or  "graft"  is  forthcoming — but 

80 


it  seldom  or  never  even  oppressively  "regulates"  them  when 
the  preventive  "consideration"  is  timely  and  sufficient. 

The  refill  sir  peddling  of  lottery  tickets  is  almost  openly 
carried  on  in  this  city.  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  "Little  Louisiana"  and  other  noted  lotteries, 
are  well-known  citizens  of  this  "moral"  community.  They 
maintain  their  "offices"  in  a  prominent  and  centrally  located 
building  of  this  city.  Thus,  in  the  estimation  of  the  muni- 
cipal guardians  of  the  public  virtue,  gambling  becomes  vicious 
only  when  the  Chinese  attempt  it.  But  "worse  remains  be- 
hind." In  certain  quarters  the  streets  are  full  of  painted  and 
decorated  harlots,  not  Chinese  but  Caucasian,— but  we  must 
never  mention  it.  It  is  not  polite,— it  is  indelicate  and  posi- 
tively ill-bred  to  discuss  such  a  subject  when  the  men  and 
women  concerned  in  it  belong  to  our  own  race. 

How  prophetically  Hamlet  anticipated  our  twentieth-cen- 
tury municipal  morals  when  he  adjured  his  mother: 
"Assume  a  virtue  if  you  have  it  not!" 

As  early  as  1878  a  Special  Committee  of  the  California 
Legislature  critically  and  very  rigidly  investigated  this  whole 
Chinese  Question.  Their  very  elaborate  and  exhaustive  report 
anyone  may  read  who  will.  Nearly  every  witness  was  very 
clearly  and  strongly  prejudiced  against  the  Chinese.  Yet  some 
of  the  testimony  then  elicited  threw  great  light  upon  the  in- 
dustrial situation  in  this  State  at  that  time.  It  especially 
proved  the  great  difficulty  which  men  of  capital  then  en- 
counter »d  in  attempting  to  establish  and  conduct  manufact 
ures  of  any  product  seeking  a  local  market  in  competition 
with  the  cheap  products  of  the  country  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Here  is  a  part  of  Max  Morganthau's  testimony: 

Questions  by  Mr.  Haymond : 

Q.     How  many  men  do  you  employ  1 

A.     In  the  neighborhood  of  two  thousand. 

Q.     How  many  Chinamen  T 

A,     Nearly  half. 

Q.  How  do  the  wages  of  the  white  men  compare  with  those 
»f  the  Chinamen  ? 

A.  They  are  from  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  per  cent 
higher. 

81 


Mr.  Pier  son:  How  does  their  labor  compare  with  that  of 
whites  ? 

A.  It  depends  upon  the  kind  of  labor.  In  weaving,  the 
Chinamen  gets  very  little  until  he  learns  the  business;  then 
we  give  him  from  ninety  cents  to  one  dollar  twelve  and  a 
half  cents  per  day.  If  we  had  to  employ  only  white  men,  we 
could  not  run  our  factories— we  would  have  to  stop  them. 
The  whites  do  more  work  than  the  Chinese,  and  even  where  the 
experience  is  the  same  they  do  more.  We  have  women  who 
run  two  looms.  Some  Chinamen  are  good  weavers  but  many 
are  not.  We  pay  by  the  hour,  so  the  ones  that  do  the  most 
work  earn  the  most  money.  When  we  want  Chinamen  we  go 
to  some  co'mpany  and  say  we  want  so  many  men,  and  we  get 
them.  Their  wages  we  pay  to  the  company,  or  the  man  who 
gets  them  for  us,  taking  his  receipt. 

Q.  What  effect  do  you  think  the  presence  of  these  Chinese 
laborers  have  upon  the  working1  classes  ? 

A.  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  immigration 
will,  in  the  course  of  time,  be  a  very  serious  thing  for  this 
State.  My  opinion  up  to  this  time  is,  that  they  have  been 
of  great  advantage  to  this  coast.  I  know  what  difficulty  we 
had  with  this  white  labor.  We  started  with  white  labor.  One 
day,  some  three  years  ago,  we  concluded  to  put  some  boys  to 
work;  so,  put  in  eighty-five  sewing  machines,  and  employed 
that  many  boys.  One  day  I  found  all  the  sewing  machines 
empty.  I  asked  the  Superintendent  what  was  the  matter- 
where  were  the  boys;  he  said  that  they  had  all  left  him.  I 
asked  on  what  grounds.  He  said  that  they  generally  stopped 
at  twelve  o'clock,  but  the  boys  did  not  come  back  when  their 
noon  hour  was  up.  Some  came  at  two  o'clock,  some  later, 
and  some  not  for  two  days.  They  nearly  all  came  back  at 
last,  and  were  asked  why  they  acted  so.  They  said  they  were 
off  on  a  pleasure  trip  around  the  bay.  He  said  that  they  must 
not  do  so  again,  for  if  they  did  we  could  not  go  on  with  the 
work.  Two  or  three  expressed  themselves  as  dissatisfied  with 
this,  and  said:  "Boys,  let's  take  our  hats  and  jackets,  and  let 
them  go  to  hell. ' '  So  the  boys  left.  I  have  no  love  for  China- 
men, but  we  can  have  no  control  over  the  white  boyp 

Q.  When  you  first  employed  Chinese  labor,  tiiere  were 
very  few  boys  in  the  country,  and  very  little  female  labor? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

82 


Q.  So  that  Chinese  labor  was  a  makeshift,  in  the  first 
place? 

A.  Yes;  and  we  were  glad  to  get  it.  I  will  say  now,  that 
if  this  immigration  keeps  up,  it  will  affect  the  country  dis- 
astrously. I  have  read  the  newspapers,  and  listened  to  a 
good  many  speakers,  but  have  not  been  able  to  see  my  way 
out.  A  few  years  ago  some  gentlemen  came  here  from  the 
Eastern  States,  and  I  gave  them  money  to  start  a  candle  and 
soap  factory.  For  ten  or  eleven  months  we  did  not  hire  a 
Bingle  Chinaman.  Men  would  come  to  me  and  ask  for  work, 
and  I  would  give  it  to  them— paying  green  hands  one  dollar 
and  fifty  cents  per  day.  Before  they  learned  they  generally 
caused  much  damage  in  waste  of  material  and  breakage  of 
machinery.  I  engaged  ten  or  eleven  girls  to  do  easy  work, 
paying  them  at  the  start  ninety  cents  a  day.  I  made  it  my 
business  to  go  out  there  every  morning  at  half  six  o'clock 
to  see  that  steam  was  up,  and  one  morning  found  all  the  girls 
gone.  I  was  told  they  had  taken  a  holiday  on  account  of 
somebody.  I  said  "I  know  what  holidays  are;  we  have  Sun- 
days, Fourth  of  July,  Christmas,  New  Year,  and  even  St. 
Patrick's  Day,  but  this  man  I  never  heard  of.  Didn't  the 
girls  give  you  some  notice?"  "They  did  not  give  us  notice," 
I  was  told,  "they  simply  did  not  come."  He  told  them  they 
would  have  to  stop  that,  and  they  wouldn't  do  it,  so  we  were 
sompelled  to  discharge  every  one  of  them.  They  thought  it 
was  better  fun  bumming  around  in  the  street  instead  of  earn- 
ing an  honest  living.  I  came  from  Bavaria,  and  there  every 
boy  must  learn  a  trade,  no  matter  whether  his  father  has  five 
dollars,  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars. 

Q.  Don't  the  Chinese  fill  the  places  in  the  lighter  employ- 
ments usually  filled  by  boys  and  girls— and  is  not  that  a  cause 
of  hoodlumism? 

A.     That  is  their  own  fault,  if  it  is  so.    I  don't  know. 

Q.  Suppose  the  Chinese  should  start  to  work  in  Bavaria, 
as  they  have  here—. 

A.  I  don't  think  that  government  would  submit  to  it.  If 
the  Chinese  flowed  in  upon  them  it  would  compel  them  to  take 
eare  of  their  own  people. 

Mr.  Haymond:  Don't  you  think  it  is  bad  to  have  a  class 
of  immigration  into  any  country,  where  they  come  for  the 

83 


purpose  of  acquiring  a  little  money,  bringing  no  families, 
and  never  buying  land? 

A.  I  hare  hoped  for  the  last  six  or  eight  years  that  the 
Chinese  would  come  here  with  their  wives,  raise  children, 
educate  them  as  our  own  children  are  educated,  cut  off  their 
queues,  and  dress  like  us,  but  I  think  that  cannot  be.  They 
consume  much  of  our  produce,  and  a  large  portion  of  our 
manufactures  are  used  by  them,  however.  During  certain 
months  of  the  year  we  make  nothing  but  cassimeres  for  the 
Chinese.  Whatever  wages  they  can  save  they  send  to  China, 
yet  they  necessarily  spend  considerable  here.  If  we  could  not 
employ  Chinese,  we  would  have  to  stop  work  for  the  present, 
and  people  would  have  to  send  abroad  for  these  goods.  That 
Would  be  as  bad  as  sending  the  money  to  China. 

" Mr.  Donovan:  Would  it  not  be  better  for  the  American 
people  to  have  goods  made  East,  by  whites,  than  by  Chinese, 
in  California? 

A.     My  principle  is,  that  charity  should  commence  at  home. 

The  most  casual  reader  will  note,— as  he  cannot  fail  to  do, 
—that  this  witness  displayed  unmistakable  prejudice  against 
the  Chinese.  Yet  truth  compelled  him  to  admit  that  without 
them  there  could  have  been  no  Woolen  Manufacturing  on  this 
Coast  even  at  as  late  a  date  as  1877. 

Note  another  and  most  important  point : 

The  last  question  answered  by  Mr.  Morgenthau  shows  to 
what  extremes  some  men  will  go  to  make  a  point.  The  ques- 
tioner, Mr.  Donovan,  would  have  had  his  audience  believe 
that  it  would  be  better  to  send  all  our  money  out  of  California 
rather  than  employ  Chinese.  If  all  the  people  of  California 
had  indorsed  and  acted  upon  that  suggestion  California  would 
this  day  be  without  manufacturing  establishments  in  which 
the  native  youth  of  this  City  and  State  find  regular  and  re- 
munerative employment.  Why?  Because  nearly  every  one 
of  such  establishments  could  not  have  been  started  at  all  with- 
out the  aid  of  Chinese  labor. 


Although  the  Kearney  period  of  Chinese  persecution 
reached  its  height  about  1880,  its  evil  effects  continued  long 
after  that  period.  All  the  exclusionists  unanimously  agreed 
upon  the  vital  necessity  of  ridding  the  State  of  the  Chinese 

84 


already  in  it,  sharply  penalizing  their  return  and  rigidly 
prohibiting  the  coming  of  any  others. 

Great  jealousy  of  Mr.  Kearney  arose.  Some  openly  charged 
him  with  conduct  unbecoming  a  teacher  of  morals  and  a 
champion  of  purity.  Many  of  his  successive  former  lieuten- 
ants aspired  to  supplant  him  in  the  leadership  which  should 
conduct  the  great  army  of  manual  toilers  into  that  Utopia 
of  Labor,  the  Promised  Land  wherein  no  Chinese  Competition 
could  threaten  wage-reduction  and  they  could  serenely  rejoice 
in  ''Four  Dollars  a  Day  and  Roast  Beef!" 

Frank  Roney,  who  had  been  one  of  Kearney's  earlier  lieu- 
tenants, became  the  President  of  the  "League  of  Deliverance*' 
whose  purpose  was  the  Boycotting  of  the  Chinese  and  the  most 
urgent  hastening  of  their  immediate  departure  by  legal  stat- 
ute rigidly  enforced. 

All  human  organizations  organized  for  the  purpose  of 
denying  to  others  the  rights  which  they  claim  for  themselves 
inevitably  develop  the  inherent  viciousness  of  human  selfish- 
ness. This  ' '  League  of  Deliverance ' '  proved  no  exception.  It 
presently  needed  deliverance  from  itself,  and  salvation  from 
its  own  officious  officials.  After  a  career  which  closely  bor- 
dered on  intimidation  and  black  mail,  its  unlawful  methods  of 
procedure  became  so  flagrant  that  the  great  majority  of  its 
members  demanded  of  its  leaders  that  they  step  down  and  out. 
This  they  speedily  did  lest  a  worse  thing  befall  them.  Thus 
ended  one  of  the  earliest  "Boycott  Movements"  of  California. 
The  following  editorial  from  the  San  Francisco  'Chronicle' 
of  July  14th,  1882,  shows  how  miserable  it  failed  and  the  yet 
more  miserable  causes  which  made  that  failure  a  most  right- 
eous retribution. 

THE  BOYCOTTING  LEAGUERS. 

Whatever  motive  may  have  originated  it,  if  we  do  not  mis- 
take its  present  quality,  the  so-called  "League  of  Deliverance " 
has  degenerated  into  one  of  those  things  against  which  all 
honest  people  should  combine  to  rid  the  city  of  it.  The  pre- 
tense of  its  leaders  is  that  they  are  earnestly  working  to  pro- 
tect white  labor  from  degrading  competition  with  the  products 
of  cheap  Chinese  labor.  This  is  well  enough  so  long  as  they 
work  by  lawful  and  decent  methods.  The  sure  way  to  accom- 
plish the  object  would  be  for  the  Leaguers  to  enlist  as  many 


as  they  can  in  an  agreement  not  to  purchase  any  goods  or 
wares  of  Chinese  production,  and  to  stick  to  this  agreement 
themselves.  But  this  is  not  their  method.  The  course  they 
are  taking  is  one  that  has  a  strong  flavor  of  blackmail  and 
unlawful  intimidation.  They  assess  merchants,  for  instance, 
so  much  a  month,  and  exact  from  them,  in  addition  to  the 
assessment,  a  pledge  not  to  sell  anything  of  Chinese  produc- 
tion. Who  pockets  this  money  ?  There  are  many  hundreds  of 
merchants  in  this  city  who  might  be  so  assessed  and  taxed: 
in  fact,  many  who  do  sell  or  peddle  Chinese  productions,  some 
of  them  being  taxed  and  belonging  to  the  League.  This  was 
clearly  explained  by  the  remarks  of  one  of  the  Leaguers  at 
the  Hopkins  Hall  meeting  of  the  League— Branch  No.  7 — on 
Wednesday  night.  He  sold  potatoes  branded  "Hong  Wo," 
but,  as  he  explained,  the  Leaguers  were  among  his  willing 
purchasers.  Is  the  man  who  sells  the  contraband  article  more 
culpable,  more  in  the  line  of  encouraging  Chinese  competition 
than  the  man  who  buys?  Certainly  not.  In  this  case  the 
buyers  were  the  Leaguers  themselves,  some  of  whom  have  re- 
cently introduced  the  boycotting  method  against  the  mer- 
chants for  doing  just  the  same  thing— buying'  where  they 
could  buy  cheapest.  We  denounce  all  such  inconsistencies  as 
outrageous,  intolerable  and  the  boycotters  who  levy  the  assess- 
ments, and  yet  themselves  violate  the  pledges  they  exact,  as 
not  a  whit  better  than  blackmailers;  and  we  insist  that  they 
give  an  account  of  the  moneys  so  collected,  and  that  the  police 
shall  see  to  it  that  any  such  boycotters  in  the  future  be  instant- 
ly arrested  and  suppressed.  Here  is  the  form  and  substance 
of  the  certificate  this  impudent  "  League  of  Deliverance "  is 
in  the  habit  of  using  to  intimidate  merchants  and  make  them 
pay  assessments: 

The  Pacific  Coast  League  of  Deliverance  hereby   grants 

this  certificate  to ,  and  recommends  him  as  dealing  in 

white-labor  goods  only.  The  certificate  is  to  be  retained  by 
him  so  long  as  he  pays  the  monthly  assessment  of  one-half 
dollar  and  conforms  to  the  requirements  of  the  League  of  De- 
liverance. 

(Signed.)  — ,  Chairman. 

,  Secretary. 

Now  what  business  has  this  new-fangled  corporation  to 
£0  about  the  city  carrying  this  sort  of  money-getting  intimida- 

86 


tion  among  the  retail  merchants?  Is  that  a  decent  way  to 
collect  four  bits  a  month  from  a  retail  merchant?  Who  gets 
the  money?  Who  accounts  for  the  collections?  We  are  told 
that  the  Leaguers  are  entering  people's  private  houses  and 
warning  them  against  extending  patronage  in  any  way  to 
anyone  who  sells  Chinese  products.  We  advise  all  people  so 
insulted  to  peremptorily  turn  the  intruders  out  of  doors, 
and  if  they  add  a  kick  it  will  not  be  amiss.  The  Chinese  who 
are  here  are  here  by  the  invitation  and  permission  of  the 
Government.  They  have  a  lawful  right  to  work  and  sell  what 
they  produce,  and  no  illegal  means  can  be  adopted  to  impair 
this  right. 

But  two  months  after  this  editorial  general  popular  dis- 
approval compelled  the  " League"  to  abandon  the  field.  The 
majority  of  the  newspapers,  even  those  most  opposed  to  the 
Chinese,  became  implacably  hostile  to  the  continuance  of  the 
twin  crimes  of  " Boycott  and  Blackmail." 

During  the  year  1886  two  Anti-Chinese  Conventions  as- 
sembled in  California.  No  good  or  sufficient  reason  justified 
the  calling  of  either.  Labor  then  received  as  much  compensa- 
tion in  California  as  in  any  other  State  in  the  entire  Union. 
But  even  had  a  grievance  of  sufficient  magnitude  existed  one 
convention  shouM  have  proved  amply  sufficient  for  the  ade- 
quate expression  of  all  their  fancied  woes. 

An  extract  from  the  manifesto  put  forth  by  one  of  the 
conventions  suffices  to  show  the  same  old  wail  and  the  same 
voluntary  and  monumental  ignorance  of  the  real  cause  of  the 
alleged  hard  times  in  California  at  that  time,  or,  in  fact,  at  any 
other  time.  They  say : 

"For  thirty  years  has  the  presence  of  the  Chinese  been 
the  constantly  recurring  cause  of  riot,  incendiarism  and 
bloodshed.  We  have  sought  in  vain  to  remedy  this  evil  by 
Congressional  legislation.  The  so-called  'Registration  Act* 
has  been  entirely  inefficient.  It  has  provided  but  a  network 
through  which  the  wily  Mongolian  has  easily  passed. 

Large  numbers  of  Chinamen  are  brought  here  in  transit 
and  transferred  to  vessels  going  to  British  Columbia  or  to 
Mexico.  In  addition,  Mexico  is  importing  large  numbers  of 
Coolies  directly  from  China.  Both  on  the  northern  and  south- 
ern borders  a  profitable  traffic  is  being  carried  on  by  assisting 
these  Coolies  to  cross  the  boundary  lines  into  the  United 

87 


States.  No  sensible  diminution  of  the  number  of  Chinese  in 
California  is  apparent.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  increasing, 
this  State  of  things  has  become  intolerable  and  we  have  at 
last  been  compelled  to  take  the  matter  into  our  own  hands.' 

The  Sacramento  Convention  represented  all  classes  of  citi- 
zens from  all  parts  of  the  State  and  by  its  firm  and  united 
action  evinced  a  determination  to  forever  stamp  out  this  evil. 

The  Convention  pointed  out  the  means  to  attain  an  end  so 
justifiable  and  so  earnestly  desired.  The  remedy  suggested 
has  been  taught  us  by  the  Chinese.  It  is  the  Boycott.  From 
their  first  landing  on  our  shores  the  Chinese  have  pursued  us 
with  a  thoroughly  organized  and  skillfully  commanded  army 
of  boycotters,  which  has  driven  our  workingmen,  our  women 
and  our  children  from  the  factory  and  workshop,  with  a  per- 
sistent energy.  The  Mongolian  boycotts  as  effectively  when  he 
works  at  so  low  a  rate  that  the  wages  he  receives  will  not 
provide  an  existence  acceptable  to  the  American,  as  though  he 
forced  him  by  violence  from  his  employment.  Thousands  of 
our  people  have  been  driven  back  to  their  homes  in  the  east 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  have  been  prevented  from  availing 
themselves  of  the  unrivaled  advantages  of  our  western  Para- 
dise. Not  only  have  the  Chinese  boycotted  our  laboring  men 
and  women,  but  they  boycott  our  productions  and  manu- 
factures and  have  obtained  monopolies  of  many  branches  of 
business  from  which  we  are  completely  excluded  by  their  serf 
labor.  This  is  the  curse  which  has  blighted  the  prosperity  of 
the  State  and  from  this  curse  it  is  our  hope  that  the  people 
will  redeem  themselves. 

The  foregoing  is  a  part  of  the  address  of  the  Sub-Executive 
Committee. 

The  following  prominent  citizens  of  California  and  Nevada 
signed  the  report:  C.  F.  McGlashan,  James  H.  Barry,  P. 
Reddy,  Wm.  M.  Hinton,  J.  M.  Clark,  H.  D.  Houghan. 

The  following  document  was  also  issued  from  that  Conven- 
tion as  a  separate  leaflet.  In  it  the  boycotters  seemingly  strove 
to  set  themselves  right  with  the  conservative  element.  It  bore 
date  March  31,  1886,  and  promulgated  the  following  prohibi- 
tions: 


' '  BOYCOTTING  PROHIBITS : 

1st.  The  Employment  of  Chinese  in  Any  Capacity. 

2d.  Patronizing  Chinese  or  Purchasing  the  Products  of 
their  Labor. 

3d.  Selling  to,  or  Dealing  with,  Chinamen,  their  Patrons  or 
Employees,  except  where  legal  obligations  exist,  as  in  cases  of 
Common  Carriers,  Water  Companies,  etc.,  etc. 

4th.  Any  Resort  to  Violence,  Threats,  Intimidations  or  Il- 
legal Methods. 

V.  HOFFMEYER,  Secretary. 

Mr.  McGlashan  was  a  prominent  member  of  a  fraternal 
organization  and  it  was  no  doubt  supposed  that,  as  Chairman 
af  the  Sub-Executive  Committee,  he  could  influence  his  Pyth- 
ian associates. 

Messrs.  Barry  and  Hinton  were  both  disciples  of  Henry 
George,  but  neither  of  them  appeared  to  have  been  able  to 
apply  the  philosophy  of  Mr.  George  to  the  solution  of  the 
question  at  issue. 

The  California  Anti-Chinese  Non-Partisan  Association 
ended,  as  so  many  of  its  predecessors  had  done,  without  having 
accomplished  its  purpose,  if,  indeed,  like  many  of  them,  it 
had  materially  advanced  it.  The  Boycotters  found  that  the 
Chinese  had  become  so  much  an  integral,  if  not  an  essential, 
part  of  the  industrial  occupations  and  relations  of  California 
that  they  gave  over  the  fight  and,  as  one  of  its  members  ex- 
pressed it,  they  "completely  fizzled  out." 

To  attempt  the  description,  or  even  the  catalogue,  of  the 
various  other  spasms  of  persecution  organized  up  to  1901 
would  be  hardly  more  than  a  repetition  of  what  we  have 
already  written  and  would  lack  variety  sufficient  to  sustain 
interest  or  command  attention.  But,  before  leaving  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  permit  the  introduction  of  specimen 
extracts  from  some  of  the  speeches  delivered  in  Congress  by 
California  Congressmen  defending  the  several  Anti-Chinese 
bills.  They  furnish  remarkably  choice  specimens  of  what  we 
may  justly  term  prescriptive  literature.  The  first  comes  from 
a  speech  made  by  Judge  Maguire  in  defense  of  an  Amendment 
to  an  "Act  Prohibiting  the  Coming  of  Chinese  Persons  into 
the  United  States."  Judge  Maguire  was  probably  the  ablest 
representative  that  California  ever  sent  to  the  National  House 
of  Representatives.  His  speech  bears  no  resemblance  to  any 


other  ever  delivered  in  Washington  upon  the  subject  of  Chi- 
nese Exclusion.  I  can  give  the  reader  no  adequate  idea  of  it. 

Before  leaving  this  branch  of  the  subject,  I  wish  to  give  the 
reader  some  extracts  from  a  speech  delivered  in  Congress  by 
Judge  James  G.  Maguire  of  San  Francisco.  Most  of  the 
Anti-Chinese  speeches  delivered  in  Washington  by  California 
Congressmen  are  indeed  choice  specimens  of  proscriptive  lit- 
erature. The  Judge's  speech  was  a  notable  exception  to  the 
rule— in  that  respect,  that  while  he  spoke  for  the  exclusion  of 
the  Chinese,  he  clearly  pointed  out  the  remedy  that  would 
make  exclusidn  of  any  industrious  people  unnecessary. 

He  spoke  for  the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese.  He  clearly 
pointed  out  the  remedy  that  would  make  exclusion  of  any 
industrious  people  unnecessary. 

A  few  paragraphs  from  the  Judge's  speech  would  not  do 
him  justice,  and  the  subject  demands  that  the  best  that  can  be 
said  on  both  sides  shall  be  given  to  the  people. 

JUDGE    MAGUIRE. 

I  am,  opposed  to  the  extension  of  the  period  of  registration 
for  the  Chinese,  and  I  base  my  opposition  upon  a  love  of 
humanity  as  broad  and  as  deep  and  as  strong  as  that  which 
animates  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Morse]  in 
his  mistaken  zeal  for  the  improvement  of  Chinese  civilization 
and  the  salvation  of  Chinese  souls.  I  have  no  prejudice 
against  the  Chinese  people,  no  desire  to  injure  them  nor  to  see 
them  injured  or  oppressed.  It  is  in  no  spirit  of  harshness  or 
unkindness  to  the  Chinese  that  I  oppose  their  immigration 
to,  and  their  residence  in,  our  country.  I  base  my  opposition 
upon  my  love  for  our  Caucasian  civilization,  upon  my  love 
for  the  glorious  institutions  of  liberty,  equality,  and  justice 
which  constitute  the  crowning  glory  of  my  country,  and  to 
the  defense,  support,  and  promotion  of  which  the  life  and 
property  and  sacred  honor  of  every  true  American  are  con- 
stantly pledged  and  dedicated. 

I  stand  upon  the  universal,  God-given  right  of  self-defense, 
which  belongs  to  communities  and  to  nations,  as  well  as  to 
individuals,  and  I  insist  upon  the  right  and  the  duty  of  self- 
defense  for  our  civilization,  which  is  the  soul  of  our  national 
life,  as  fully  as  the  right  and  duty  of  self-defense  against 
armed  assailants  of  our  physical  autonomy  is  recognized. 

90 


From  the  dark  ages  of  universal  tyranny  and  slavery, 
through  centuries  scarred  by  the  agonies  and  stained  with  the 
blood  and  tears  of  God's  noblest  children,  our  civilization  has 
been  evolved,  and  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  its  preser- 
vation. 

Those  scarred  and  blood-stained  centuries  represent  the 
gulf  between  our  civilization  and  the  semi-barbarism  of  China. 
Can  these  civilizations  be  mingled,  with  advantage  to  the  lower 
and  no  harm  to  the  higher  ?  That  is  the  theory  of  the  Eastern 
philanthropists,  but  it  is  directly  contrary  to  the  knowledge 
which  the  evidence  of  actual  experience  has  given  to  the  West. 
That  experience  has  demonstrated  that,  in  rneptincr  and  minor- 
ling,  the  higher  civilization  loses  a  hundred  fold  more  than 
the  inferior  gains. 

On  the  abstract  question  of  philanthropy  we  are  not  far 
separated  from  our  Eastern  brethren,  but,  as  they  see  the 
Chinese  problem  only  in  the  abstract,  they  are  in  no  such  posi- 
tion as  that  which  we  occupy,  to  balance  and  compare  the 
advantage  and  disadvantages  of  Chinese  immigration  to  the 
3ause  of  humanity  and  civilization.  The  wide  difference  of 
sentiment  between  the  East  and  West  on  the  Chinese  question 
is  not  due  to  any  fundamental  difference  in  our  principles; 
it  is  due  to  the  difference  between  our  tolerably  complete 
knowledge  of  the  question  and  your  imperfect  knowledge  of 
it.  You  see  the  hardships  imposed  by  our  Federal  laws  upon 
the  Chinese,  and  your  sympathies  go  out  to  them  because  you 
do  not  see  the  other  side  of  the  picture.  We  see  the  oppression, 
misery,  degradation,  and  slavery  to  which  our  own  laborers 
are  reduced  as  a  direct  result  of  Chinese  immigration.  We  see 
that  the  imported  Chinese  coolies  are  mere  agencies  in  the 
hands  of  monopolists— domestic  and  foreign— by  which  our 
own  people  are  gradually  reduced  to  a  condition  of  wretched- 
ness approximating  to  the  social  condition  of  the  Chinese 
slaves,  and  without  the  slightest  feeling  of  malice  against  the 
unfortunate  Chinamen  we  demand  their  exclusion  and  their 
deportation  as  necessary  measures  of  defense  to  our  own 
people. 

********** 

Compliance  with  the  Geary  law  was  easy.  Compliance  with 
it  would  have  secured  to  those  lawfully  within  our  borders  the 
right  to  reside  here  just  as  long  as  they  might  desire.  But  the 

91 


willful  refusal  to  comply  with  its  provisions  imposed  certain 
clearly  defined  consequences  which  they  have  chosen  to  take 
rather  than  to  register.  In  obedience  to  the  decrees  of  an 
alien  institution  in  this  country,  and  of  alien  laws— an  Asiatic 
form  of  government  within  our  Government— more  rigorous 
and  more  effective  than  our  laws,  they  have  chosen  deportation 
as  a  consequence  of  their  refusal  to  register.  That  consequence 
does  not  flow  from  our  action.  It  flows  from  their  choice,  de- 
liberately made,  upon  a  full  year's  consideration. 

********** 

Now,  Mr.  Spanker,  the  immigration  of  Chinese  to  this  coun- 
try and  the  residence  of  Chinese  amongst  us  has  been  to  us  a 
curse  and  a  blight.  The  Pacific  coast  has  felt  this,  of  course, 
more  deeply  than  any  other  part  of  the  country.  The  Pacific 
coast  receives  them.  Nine-tenths  of  the  Chinamen  coming  to 
this  country  have  been  sifted  through  San  Francisco.  They 
have  been,  to  some  extent,  filtered  through  the  rest  of  the 
country,  but  the  great  burden  of  all  the  incubus  and  of  all 
the  hardships  resulting  from  Chinese  immigration  have  fallen 
an  the  Pacific  coast  States  and  Territories. 

*         *         *         *         *         *         *         *         ** 

I  was  going  to  say  that  the  people  of  California  are  unani- 
mous in  their  desire  to  be  rid  of  this  element ;  but  unfortunate- 
ly there  are  some  Californians  who  are  in  a  position  to  enjoy 
the  benefits,  the  substantial  benefits,  flowing  from  a  system 
r>f  civilization  such  as  the  gentleman  from  New  York  [Mr. 
Sickles]  presented  here  as  one  agreeable  to  his  mind— the 
lowest  wages  at  which  servile  labor  can  possibly  be  secured, 
and  an  aristocracy  of  employers  growing  rich  by  their  privi- 
lege of  appropriating  the  fruits  of  others '  toil. 

The  gentleman  favors  a  higher  standard  for  American 
labor,  but  it  is  manifestly  impossible  to  maintain  one  standard 
of  wages  for  American  labor  and  another  for  alien  labor, 
competing  in  the  same  market,  with  natural  opportunities 
equally  closed  against  them. 

The  principles  of  democracy,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
God,  recognize  but  one  rule  of  right  among  men.  That  rule 
of  right  awards  to  labor  all  that  it  produces.  It  is  utterly 
incompatible  with  the  asserted  right  of  any  class  to  live,  by 
privilege,  upon  the  labor  of  others. 

Cheap  labor  is  labor  that  is  worth  more  than  its  wages— 

92 


labor  that  produces  more  than  it  receives— and  any  industrial 
uystem  which  compels  labor  to  give  up  to  a  privileged  class  any 
portion  of  the  wealth  which  it  produces  is  a  system  of  rob- 
bery, abhorrent  to  the  laws  of  God  and  destructive  of  the 
primary  principle  of  human  association— justice. 

There  are  a  few  hundred  monopolists  in  California  who 
favor  Chinese  immigration,  because  it  furnishes  them  with 
cheap  labor  and  enables  them  to  live  more  luxuriously  at  the 
expense  of  the  laboring  classes. 

> 

LAND  MONOPOLY  AND  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

"The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Morse]  scouted 
the  idea  that  90,000  or  100,000  Chinese  in  this  great  country 
could  be  a  source  of  any  real  hardship  to  the  country,  or  any 
menace  to  our  institutions,  social,  political  or  industrial,  and 
as  one  basis  for  his  statement  in  that  behalf,  he  called  atten- 
tion to  the  magnificent,  boundless,  inexhaustible,  natural  re- 
sources of  this  country.  Our  natural  resources  are,  indeed, 
measureless  and  inexhaustible,  and  if  they  were  opened  to  the 
people  of  this  country  on  fair  and  equal  terms— on  the  terms 
9n  which  the  Great  Creator  gave  them  to  mankind— the  gen- 
tleman *s  argument  on  that  phase  of  the  question  would  be 
sound. 

But  these  natural  resources,  without  which  labor  can  pro- 
duce no  wealth  at  all,  are  not  open  to  the  people.  They  are 
monopolized.  Monopolized— in  that  word  see,  ye  ages,  "com- 
prised the  cause  of  the  curses  all  annals  contain/*  Chinese 
would  not,  and  could  not,  oppress  American  labor  if  our 
lands  were  free,  but,  as  it  is,  land  monopoly  and  cheap,  im- 
ported labor  are  the  upper  and  the  nether  millstones  between 
which  American  labor  is  being  ground  into  serfdom  and 
pauperism,  as  I  will  presently  explain.  The  natural  re- 
sdurces  of  the  Pacific  coast,  the  natural  resources  of  our 
pntire  country,  are  the  private  property  of  a  few  individuals. 

This  great  country  which  we  are  pleased  to  call  ours,  be- 
longs, by  legal  title,  to  a  few  landlords  whose  number  and 
proportion  to  the  whole  people  are  annually  growing  less. 

Every  cheapening  of  labor,  by  any  means,  increases  the 
market  value  of  the  land  and  the  rent  rolls  of  its  owners; 
thus,  by  a  double  process,  widening  the  gulf  between  the  land- 
less poor  and  our  growing  landed  aristocracy.  American 

93 


labor,  driven  from  the  natural  sources  of  independent  self- 
employment,  is  forced  to  enter  the  labor  market  of  cities  and 
towns  and  compete  for  employment  with  the  cheapest  labor 
there  offered  for  sale. 

The  people  are  responsible  because  they  have  the  power  to 
correct  the  evil  and  do  not  exercise  that  power;  but  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  people  will  ere  long  relieve  themselves  of 
that  responsibility. 

The  monopoly  of  the  natural  earth  and  its  God-given  re- 
sources is  the  colossal  crime  of  modern  civilization  beside 
which  all  other  oppressions  of  the  poor  are  insignificant. 
Land  is  the  exclusive  source  of  human  subsistence.  All 
wealth,  all  means  of  physical  subsistence,  are  extracted  by 
labor  from  the  natural  earth.  Indeed,  man  is  a  land  animal 
in  every  sense.  His  food,  his  clothing,  his  shelter,  his  very 
body,  all  come  from  the  land  and  all  to  the  land  return  again. 
He  must  live  upon  the  land  and  from  the  land,  if  he  live  at  all. 
Even  the  sailor  and  the  aeronaut  are  not  exempt  from  these 
conditions  of  human  existence,  for  the  decks  trodden  by  the 
one  and  the  bars  and  ropes  which  support  the  other  are  of 
land. 

The  right  to  life,  which  we  all  regard  as  sacred  and  inalien- 
able, cannot  be  more  sacred  than  the  hight  of  access  to  the  ex- 
clusive means  by  which  life  can  be  supported.  * ' '  You  take  my 
life  when  you  take  the  means  whereby  I  live." 

Yet,  in  this  land  of  unexampled  and  unparalleled  political 
Ibierty,  a  few  men  own  and  control  the  only  source  from  which 
the  masses  of  the  people  can  draw  their  subsistence. 

Those  few  have,  therefore,  the  unnatural  power  to  dictate 
the  terms  upon  which  the  masses  of  the  people  of  this  country 
3an  live— to  fix  the  terms  upon  which  they  may  have  access  to 
the  natural  resources  that  the  Creator  made  necessary  to  the 
support  of  their  lives.  The  Creator  not  only  made  and  freely 
gave  those  common  resources  as  a  common  heritage  to  all  his 
children  for  their  support  and  sustenance,  but  he  is  constantly 
from  day  to  day  replenishing  and  improving  them  by  the  op- 
eration of  his  natural  laws. 

The  creative  power,  by  its  changing'  seasons,  by  its  sunlight 
and  its  rains,  and  its  drifting  winds,  by  its  processes  of  growth 
and  decay  in  the  vegetable  and  in  the  animal  world,  is  ever 

94 


building  up  and  replenishing  the  elements  of  the  land  that 
yields  subsistence  for  mankind. 

The  unquestioned  legal  right  of  our  landed  class  to  entirely 
exclude  their  fellow-citizens  from  the  lands  of  our  country  in- 
volves the  power  to  inflict  all  oppressions  less  than  such  ex- 
clusion. 

We  have,  therefore,  under  the  forms  of  the  greatest  political 
freedom,  a  land  system  which  creates  an  absolute  despotism, 
under  which  the  land-owning  classes  are  lords  of  the  indus- 
tries, the  liberties,  and  even  the  lives  of  the  landless  fellow- 
citizens. 

In  this  connection  with  this  institution  and  this  condition 
that  we  must  consider  the  question  of  Chinese  immigration.  To 
consider  the  question  abstractly  is  not  to  consider  it  at  all. 
Upon  the  abstract  question  of  human  rights  we  are  practically 
agreed. 

You  plead  for  justice  and  humanity  to  85,000  Chinese.  I 
plead  conditions  of  life  are  being  made  harder  by  competition 
with  Chinese  slavery. 

You  do  not  see  that  you  are  really  pleading  for  an  increase 
sf  the  oppressive  power  of  American  landlordism,  with  very 
little  if  any  good  to  the  individual  Chinamen  in  whose  names 
you  speak. 

True,  they  will  be  slaves  if  they  are  returned  to  China,  but 
they  will  be  slaves  if  they  remain  in  this  country,  and  their 
presence  here  will  tend  to  degrade  our  laborers  to  the  level 
3f  slavery. 

The  condition  of  land  monopoly  prevailing  in  this  country 
tends  to  fix  the  wages  of  labor  according  to  the  standard  of 
living  of  the  lowest  classes  of  laborers  seeking  employment  in 
the  country. 

American  labor  is  no  longer  free  because  its  natural  oppor- 
tunities for  self-employment,  though  they  are  measureless 
and  inexhaustible,  as  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  Mr. 
Morse,  has  said,  are  closed  against  it  by  monopoly.  It  can  no 
longer  escape  from  an  unsatisfactory  labor  market,  but,  in 
_  spite  of  the  fact  that  wages  bear  no  relation  whatever  to  the 
value  of  labor,  it  must  bid  for  employment  against  the  cheapest 
labor  that  is  there  offered. 

The  tendency  and  the  end  of  such  competition  in  an  over- 

95 


crowded  labor  market  where  there  is  still  an  army  of  un- 
employed laborers,  after  all  demands  for  labor  have  been  sup- 
plied, is  to  reduce  all  wages  to  the  line  at  which  the  unem- 
ployed surplus,  facing  the  alternative  of  beggary  and  starva- 
tion, are  willing  to  work. 

I  have  seen  the  whole  problem  of  labor's  degradation 
worked  out  in  practical  life  before  my  own  eyes.  Thirty 
years  ago,  Sir,  labor  in  California  was  comparatively  free, 
because  land  was  comparatively  free  there.  Labor  was  then 
paid  according  to  its  production  and  not  according  to  the 
lowest  standard  of  living  prevailing  among  the  laborers,  as 
now.  It  was  then  worth  what  it  produced  and  it  was  paid 
accordingly. 

Laborers  being  then  free  to  go  upon  the  virgin  soil  and 
build  their  homes  and  establish  their  own  industries,  and  heing 
able  there  to  comfortably  feed  and  clothe  their  families,  and 
to  educate  their  children  in  the  standard  branches  of  useful 
learning,  were  not  obliged  to  remain  in  the  labor  market 
when  it  offered  less  favorable  conditions.  Then  California 
was  labor's  "Promised  Land."  Then  California  was  the  last 
rampant  from  which  the  boasted  and  really  glorious  "standard 
:>f  American  Labor"  has  been  permitted  to  float. 

Then  there  were  in  our  land  no  tramps,  few  paupers  and 
no  surplus  labor  in  enforced  idleness. 

Then  sparseness  of  population  and  the  consequent  lack  of 
social  advantages,  imposed  the  only  hardships  that  were 
known.  What  wonder  that  those  who  knew  the  freedom  md 
the  happiness  of  those  conditions  yearn  for  their  return ! 

I  saw  the  change  of  social  conditions  come.  I  saw  the 
Bhadow  of  land  monopoly  steal  over  and  encompass  our  Golden 
State.  I  saw  a  few  hundred  men  become  the  absolute  owners 
and  masters  of  her  great  material  resources  that  were  mani- 
festly intended  by  their  Creator  to  furnish  homes  and  sub- 
sistence to  40,000,000  people.  I  saw  an  empire  of  her  best 
and  richest  land  pass  by  Act  of  Congress  under  the  dominion 
of  a  single,  soulless  corporation.  I  saw  the  gates  of  natural 
independence  in  home  and  industry  closed  against  American 
labor. 

I  saw  labor  driven  from  its  lucrative  and  independent  re- 
treats in  the  mountains  and  valleys  into  the  markets  of  the 

96 


eities  and  towns,  there  to  be  sold  as  a  commodity  at  prices 
fixed  by  the  laws  of  trade. 

I  saw  the  wages  of  American  labor  changed  from  the  value 
3f  its  product  down  to  the  price  fixed  by  the  alternative  of 
pauperism,  while  the  wealth-producing  power  of  labor  was 
increased,  on  the  average,  in  all  departments  of  industry 
elevenfold. 

I  saw  the  beneficiaries  of  monopoly  manipulating  the  labor 
market  to  keep  the  price  of  labor  down.  I  saw  them  importing, 
in  tens  of  thousands,  the  coolies  of  China,  not  for  the  benefit 
of  Chinamen,  as  Eastern  philanthropists  persist  in  believing, 
but  for  the  double  purpose  of  bearing  the  labor  market  by 
maintaining  a  surplus,  and  of  teaching  American  laborers  to 
live  on  the  rations  of  Asiatic  slavery.  These  beneficiaries,  let 
me  say  to  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  McCrearyl ,  are 
the  Californians  whose  brass  bands  and  streaming  banners 
heralded  the  dawn  of  Asiatic  slavery  on  the  Pacific  coast  in 
the  ratification  of  the  Burlingame  treaty ;  and  they,  sir,  would 
again  furnish  bands  and  banners  to  celebrate  the  resumption 
of  their  slave  traffic  if  the  Geary  act  were  repealed. 

In  the  great  State  of  California,  whose  natural  resources 
are  confessedly  capable  of  supporting  40,000,000  people,  I 
saw  the  horrors  that  are  supposed  to  result  only  from  over- 
population, prevailing  with  a  population  of  only  1,000,000. 

I  saw  the  millionaire  and  the  tramp,  contemporaneous  me- 
naces to  our  civilization,  arise  out  of  these  conditions. 

I  saw  the  millionaire,  without  productive  effort  on  his  part, 
become  a  multi-millionaire,  upon  the  tribute  commanded  by 
his  purchased  and  granted  privileges ;  and  I  saw  the  army  of 
pauperism  growing  as  he  grew,  and  growing  because  of  the 
conditions  that  made  him  grow — recruited  by  thousands  from 
the  ranks  of  unemployed  labor— a  ghastly  procession  of  vice 
and  crime,  and  rags  and  filth,  and  torment  and  despair,  drift- 
ing listlessly,  as  "flotsam  and  jetsam*'  on  the  tide  of  our 
eivilization,  to  whatever  goal  a  just  God  may  deem  suitable  at 
the  close  of  their  earthly  hell. 

These  are  the  results  as  I  have  seen  them  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  of  land  monopoly,  supplemented  by  the  importation  of 
Chinese  slaves.  These  are  the  conditions  which  we  seek  to 
mitigate  by  the  enforcement  of  the  Geary  act. 

97 


The  picture  that  I  have  drawn  is  no  "  distorted  vision, ' '  no 
''distempered  dream,"  but  a  stern  tragedy  in  real  life  enacted 
in  the  open  light  of  day.  An  awful  tragedy  on  which  the  cur- 
tain rose  within  my  memory,  and  upon  the  last  act  of  which  - 
the  final  triumph  of  humanity  over  monopoly— I  hope  to  see 
the  curtain  fall  within  my  lifetime. 

DECLINE   AND   FALL   OF   ROME. 

These  results  of  land  monopoly  are  not  (excepting  the  Chi- 
nese slavery  phase)  peculiar  to  California  or  the  West. 

They  prevail  throughout  the  civilized  world,  wherever  our 
land  system  prevails ;  but  in  the  older  sections  of  our  country 
the  change  from  free  conditions  antedates  the  earliest  recol- 
lections of  the  generation  now  upon  the  stage  of  public  life, 
and  the  Chinese  phase  of  our  Western  problem  has  no  parallel 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

But  it  has  a  striking  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  decline 
and  fall  of  the  civilization  and  power  of  ancient  Rome. 

Macaulay  tells  us  that  "in  the  brave  days  of  old,"  when 
Rome  was  mistress  of  the  world ;  when  to  be  a  citizen  of  Romp 
was  esteemed  the  proudest  privilege  of  manhood,  her  "lands 
were  fairly  portioned"  among  her  citizens.  In  the  period  of 
her  decline  and  fall  the  lands  had  become  the  property  of  a 
few  great  landlords  who  employed  slaves  to  work  them.  The 
landless  citizens,  thus  excluded  from  the  poor  privilege  of 
working  as  laborers  upon  the  lands  which  once  their  fathers 
owned,  drifted  helplessly  to  the  cities  and  towns,  and  there, 
in  the  helplessness  of  enforced  idleness,  they  sank  into  pauper- 
ism and  vice. 

"Their  debased  suffrage  became  mere  merchandise  in  the 
market,  thus  extending  instead  of  controlling  the  powers  of 
the  monopolists.  The  soldiers  of  Rome  became  suppliants  for 
alms  and  their  children  herecitary  paupers.  The  outer  form 
«>f  her  official  life  alone  preserved  the  semblance  of  Rome's 
departed  glory.  Then  Rome  fell  and  over  the  sepulchre  of 
her  once  splendid  civilization  was  written  her  epitaph :  'Laii- 
f undia  perdidere  Italiam'.— Great  Estates  Ruined  Italy!" 

Shall  history  be  permitted  to  repeat  itself  1  Shall  the  lords 
of  our  land  be  permitted  to  work  it  with  slave  labor?  Shall 
they  be  permitted  to  exclude  our  brethren  and  our  fellow- 
citizens  from  the  poor  privilege  of  earning  their  living  as  hired 

08 


laborers  upon  the  land  in  which  by  natural  right,  they  have  an 
equal  interest  with  the  landlords  themselves? 

Shall  these  lords  be  permitted  for  their  private  gain  to 
bring  upon  our  country  the  curse  that  shattered  the  empire 
of  Rome?  Shall  they  be  permitted  to  turn  our  civilization 
backward  and  make  the  ages  of  its  development  droop  again  1 

No;  this  is  our  country— our  civilization.  Their  preserva- 
tion is  our  first,  our  highest  duty,  and  is  the  truest  friendship 
to  mankind. 

We  of  the  West  do  not  yield  to  the  people  of  New  England 
in  love  of  humanity.  As  a  Native  Son  of  New  England,  I 
glory  in  her  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  civilization. 
Our  warfare  is  not  against  the  unfortunate  Chinaman.  We 
would  rather  help  them  than  hurt  them. 

We  are  struggling  to  preserve  our  own  people  from  the  hell 
of  slavery  that  yawns  beneath  them.  That  accomplished,  we 
will,  in  proportion  to  our  means,  match  every  dollar  and  every 
effort  that  New  England  will  contribute  for  the  enlightment 
and  the  civilization  of  the  Chinese  and  for  the  betterment  of 
their  moral  and  social  condition.  Until  American  labor  shall| 
be  made  free  we  demand  that  it  be  protected  from  the  compe- 
tition of  slavery.  The  emancipation  of  our  own  labor  is  th$ 
only  just  alternative  for  the  exclusion  and  deportation  of  the 
Chinese.  This  brings  me  to  the  discussion  of  the  alternative—, 
the  emancipation  of  labor. 

HOW   TO   MAKE   LABOR   FREE. 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Morse]  asked: 
"Who  is  responsible"  for  the  condition  of  land  monopoly  preT 
mailing  in  this  country  1  and  I  answered  that  the  people  are 
responsible  because  they  have  the  power  to  correct  the  evil  and 
io  not  exercise  that  power. 

This  question  is  pertinent  and  important  because  if  tjie 
greatest  evil  of  Chinese  immigration  results  from  faults  in  our 
land  system,  it  may  well  be  asked  why  we  do  not  cure  those 
faults  and  let  the  Chinese  remain  ? 

The  gentleman's  question,  touching,  as  it  does,  the  very 
heart  of  the  great  social  conflict  now  agitating  the  civilized 
world,  deserves  a  more  complete  and  a  more  detailed  answer. 

The  remedy  which  I  propose  for  the  evil  of  land  monopoly 
is  simple,  just,  practical  and  unquestionably  sufficient.  It  is 


this:  To  appropriate  to  public  use,  by  taxation,  for  the  sup- 
port of  our  Federal,  State  and  Municipal  governments,  the 
entire  rental  value  of  all  land,  irrespective  of  improvements, 
and  to  abolish  all  other  taxes. 

Would  that  be  just  ?  If  it  would  not  be  just  it  would  not  be 
expedient.  I  hold  that  no  permanent  good  ever  resulted  from 
an  act  of  injustice.  "Never  yet  did  men  or  nations  prosper 
finally  in  wrong."  Entertaining  these  views  and  believing 
with  Daniel  Webster  that ' '  Justice,  sir,  is  the  great  interest  of 
man  on  earth,"  I  am  fully  convinced,  after  mature  delibera- 
tion, that  the  remedy  is  not  only  just  in  itself,  but  that  it 
embodies  the  only  means  by  which  justice  can  be  permanently 
and  universally  established  among  men. 

Land  is  the  sommon  heritage  of  all  mankind.  It  was  freely 
given  by  the  Creator,  with  all  of  its  elements  and  all  of  its 
powers,  for  the  equal  use  and  sustenance  of  all  mankind.  It 
was  not  given  to  any  one  generation,  nor  to  any  class  or  classes 
in  any  generation,  but  equally  to  all  mankind,  from  the  first 
child  of  nature  to  the  last  human  creature  who  shall  inhabit 
the  earth. 

Land  is  the  common  heritage  of  every  child  of  God — not  as 
the  heir  of  his  natural  father,  not  according  to  the  possessions 
or  the  will  of  his  natural  father,  whose  right  to  land  perishes 
with  his  own  life— but  as  the  direct  heir  of  the  Universal 
Father,  from  whom  the  right  to  life,  to  liberty,  to  air.  to  sun- 
light, are  likewise  directly  inherited. 

The  true  province  of  government  is  to  regulate  the  use  of 
this  heritage  by  its  citizens  while  preserving  to  each  his  equal 
right  therein. 

Why  do  men  monopolize  land? 

To  cure  the  evil  of  land  monopoly  the  motive  for  it  must 
be  clearly  understood  in  order  that  the  incentive  may  be  in- 
telligent removed.  Is  the  motive  self-aggrandizement,  or  is 
it  malicious,  or  is  it  mercenary?  Our  common  experience  i« 
alone  necessary  to  determine  the  question. 

The  motive  is  almost  wholly  mercenary.  The  desire  for 
power  over  other  men  has  its  influence,  but  it  is  purely  inci- 
dental. 

Profit,  either  present  or  prospective,  is  practically  the  sole 
inducement  to  land  monopoly.  The  profit  is  yielded  either  in 

100 


present  ground  rent  or  future  -enhanceMent  of  hxnd  value. 

What  is  ground  rent,  and  why  does  land,  the  natural  ele- 
ments and  qualities  of  which  remain  unchanged,  continue  to 
advance  in  value  in  all  growing  communities? 

Who  produces  the  rental  value  of  land?  What  influence 
has  Chinese  slave  labor  upon  ground  rent? 

Ground  rent  is  the  landlords  share  of  production.  It  is 
the  tribute  charged  by  the  owner  of  the  natural  earth  for 
allowing  others  to  use  it.  Its  measure  is  stated  by  Ricardo 
to  be,  referring  to  any  given  piece  of  land:  "the  excess  of  its 
produce  over  that  which  the  same  application  can  seen  re  from 
the  least  productive  land  in  use." 

In  practice  it  may  be  generally  stated  that  the  rental  value 
of  any  given  piece  of  land  is  the  difference  between  the  aver- 
age value  of  its  product  and  the  average  cost  (labor  and 
capital)  of  production,  for  the  period  of  the  lease. 

It  is  therefore  manifest  that  whatever  increases  the  value  of 
the  product,  without  increasoing  the  cost  of  production,  in- 
creases ground  rent,  as :  an  increased  demand  for  the  product, 
resulting  from  increase  of  population,  or  other  cause,  or  an 
improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  product. 

It  is  also  manifest  that  whatever  reduces  the  cost  of 
production  tends  to  increase  ground  rent,  as  a  reduction  of 
the  wages  of  labor,  inventions  of  labor-saving  machinery, 
and  improvements  in  the  methods  of  combining  and  sub- 
dividing labor. 

Thus  it  is  that,  under  our  land  system,  every  contribution 
to  material  progress,  as  well  as  every  reduction  in  the  wages 
*>f  labor,  attaches  itself  to  the  land  and  inures  to  the  benefit 
if  the  landlords  in  increasing  ground-rent. 

•         ******•*• 

PUBLIC  ENTITLED  TO  ALL  GROUND  RENT. 

We  have  now  seen,  in  brief  outline,  at  least,  what  ground 
rent  is  and  how  it  arises.  We  have  seen  that  it  is  an  incre- 
ment of  value  produced  and  imposed  upon  the  natural  earth 
by  the  presence,  industry,  enterprise,  inventiveness  and  vir- 
tues of  the  whole  community  in  which  it  arises. 

We  have  seen  that  it  absorbs  all  of  the  general  advantages 
;>f  the  material  progress  of  the  whole  people;  that  to  the 

101 


landlord  it  is  in  every  sense  an  unearned  increment  to  which 
as  land  lord  he  does  not  in  any  way  contribute. 

Merely  permitting  labor  to  use  land  productively  is  not 
a  contribution,  because  the  land,  with  all  of  its  useful  ele- 
ments, was  given  to  mankind  by  God,  and  would  have  been 
accessible  to  labor  if  the  shadow  of  landlordism  had  never 
darkened  the  horizon  of  our  civilization. 

The  landlord  is  not  entitled  to  the  rental  value  of  his  loca- 
tion, because  he  does  not  produce  it. 

The  community  is  entitled  to  the  rental  value,  because  the . 
community  does  produce  it.  Every  value  belongs  of  natural 
right  to  him  whose  labor  or  service  produces  it,  and  without 
whose  labor  or  service  it  would  not  have  existed.  It  is  im- 
material whether  the  value  be  produced  by  one  person,  or 
by  ten  persons,  or  by  a  million  persons.  It  belongs  to  those 
who  produce  it— individually,  if  it  be  individually  produced. 

collectively,  if  it  be  collectively  produced. 

***** 

A  tax  on  land  values  is  the  only  property  tax  that  always 
falls  with  proportionate  equality  upon  all  owners  and  that 
cannot  be  shifted  from  the  person  paying  it  to  the  ultimate 
consumer  or  user.  The  reason  that  it  cannot  be  shifted  is 
that  while  a  tax  on  any  other  kind  of  property  tends  to  check 
its  production,  and  thus,  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand, 
to  increase  its  price  sufficiently  to  cover  the  tax,  a  tax  on 
land  values  forces  idle  land  into  the  market,  increasing  thf 
supply  of  land  offered  for  sale  or  lease,  and  thus,  by  the  saim- 
law  of  supply  and  demand,  reducing,  instead  of  increasing, 
the  rent.  Heavy  taxation  of  houses  increases  the  rent  of 
houses  by  the  amount  of  the  tax,  but  heavy  taxation  of  land 
values  decreases  the  rent  of  the  land.  All  political  econo 

mists  agree  on  this  proposition,  and  it  needs  no  argument. 

***** 

Your  charge  of  cruelty  and  inhumanity  against  us  in  our 
treatment  of  the  Chinese  is  unfounded  and  unjust.  Never 
have  any  people  been  more  patient,  more  law-abiding,  or  more 
considerate  under  the  pressure  of  similar  evils  than  have  the 
people  of  California  in  their  treatment  of  the  Chinese  people. 

Chinese  exclusion  and  deportation  are  merely  measures  of 
necessary  self-defense,  and  are  in  no  sense  race  persecutions. 
Our  warfare  is  not  against  the  individual  Chinamen,  but 

102 


against  the  deplorable  conditions  which  their   immigration 
and  residence  bring  to  us. 

As  well  might  we  charge  the  people  of  the  East  with  cruelty 
and  inhumanity  to  the  unfortunate  passengers  of  plague- 
stricken  ships,  when,  in  protecting  yourselves  from  the  ravages 
sf  cholera,  you  enforce  your  quarantine  laws. 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  HENRY  GEORGE. 

We  cannot  permit  the  evils  of  slave  competition  to  afflict 
our  people  while  we  await  the  emancipation  of  American 
labor.  The  process  of  emancipation  is  too  slow.  The  people 
are  yet  too  greatly  divided  in  opinion  concerning  the  best 
method  of  emancipation.  '  They  have  not  yet  sufficiently 
learned  that  labor  never  can  be  .free  except  where  land  is 
free. 

Knowledge  must  ever  precede  right  credence,  and  right 
credence  must  ever  precede  correct  political  action. 

The  people  are  reading  and  studying  the  philosophy  of 
Henry  George.  "Progress  and  Poverty,"  which  a  distin- 
guished English  writer  has  happily  denominated  "a  glorious 
gospel  of  justice,"  is  steadily  and  rapidly  changing  the  cre- 
dence of  the  world  on  the  subject  of  land  tenure. 

It  is  the  herald  of  the  next  great  step  in  the  order  of  social 
evolution. 

It  is  a  practical  development  of  the  principles  of  Jeffer- 
sonian  Democracy.  It  is  a  justification  of  our  Declaration  of 
Independence.  It  is  a  vindication  of  the  "ways  of  God  to 
man." 

The  manifest  truths  of  its  philosophy  will  speedily  unify 
the  world's  credence.  "Never  yet  share  of  truth  was  vainly 
set  in  the  world's  wide  fallow." 

The  education  of  a  nation  on  an  economic  question  is  not 
to  be  accomplished  in  a  day,  though  the  "stars  in  their 
courses"  should  work  with  the  educators. 

In  the  meantime  self-defense  becomes  more  than  a  right; 
it  becomes  a  most  sacred  duty. 

NATURAL  RIGHTS  OP  CHINESE. 

You  ask  if  I  do  not  recognize  the  Chinaman  in  this  scheme 
of  creative  benevolence?  I  answer,  "Yes."  I  recognize  most 
fully  the  natural  rights  of  the  Chinese.  I  do  not  question 
their  equal  rights  to  the  elements  which  the  Creator  has  given 

103 


for  the  sustenance  of  human  life;  but  I  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  same  Creator  has  established  the  family,  and  by 
his  law  of  human  gregariousness,  has  established  the  com- 
munity and  has  decreed  that  through  the  family  and  the 
community  civilization  shall  be  evolved  and  defended. 

He  has  the  same  right  to  an  independent  home  that  I  have, 
but  he  has  no  right  to  invade  my  home,  nor  I  his ;  and,  as  I 
have  but  followed  the  Creator's  law  of  evolution  in  building 
up  the  institutions  which  constitute  my  civilization,  I  have  a 
right  to  defend  them,  as  well  against  the  unarmed  invader 
from  China  as  against  the  armed  soldier  from  Great  Britain. 

In  connection  with  the  industrial  phase  of  this  question, 
Mr.  Speaker,  I  desire  to  present  several  petitions  from  various 
trades  unions  of  California,  praying  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  Geary  Act. 

I  also  desire  to  read,  as  presenting  labor's  view  of  this 
question,  the  following  extracts  from  the  petition  of  the 
Bricklayers'  Union,  which  I  will  file  here,  and  which  has  been 
indorsed  by  resolution  in  every  union  belonging  to  the  Build- 
ing Trades  Council  of  San  Francisco. 

The  extracts  to  which  I  desire  to  call  special  attention 
are  as  follows: 

"The  importation  of  Chinese  Coolie  labor  into  the  State 
of  California,  and  sister  States  of  this  Union,  and  the  simul- 
taneous closing  of  natural  opportunities  against  our  own 
people  have  during  the  past  twenty-five  years,  been  gradually 
but  steadily  reducing  American  Labor  to  a  condition  of 
slavery.  *  *  *  * 

The  oppression  of  monopoly  on  the  one  hand  and  the  com- 
petition of  Chinese  slave  labor  on  the  other,  threaten  to  speed- 
ily degrade  our  American  laborers  below  the  standard  of 
family  life,  by  reducing  wages  to  the  bare  cost  of  maintaining: 
unmarried  coolies. 

I  commend  this  vivid  but  not  overdrawn  picture  of  the 
ordeal  of  American  labor  to  the  Eastern  sentimentalists  who 
profess  such  an  undying  devotion  to  the  abstract  rights  of 
man.  I  commend  it  also  to  the  ministers  of  religion  who  are 
deploring  the  decadence  of  church  influence  among  the  labor- 
ing classes,  while  as  representatives  of  religion  they  are  pro- 
moting the  humiliation  and  degradation  of  labor  by  their 
advocacy  of  Chinese  immigration. 

104 


[Mr.  Maguire  here  gave  way  to  a  motion  to  adjourn,  reserv- 
ing the  right  to  conclude  his  remarks  to-morrow.] 

October  14. 

Mr.  MAGUIRE  (resuming).  Mr.  Speaker,  when  the  House 
adjourned  last  evening  I  was  discussing  the  industrial  feat- 
ares  of  Chinese  immigration  and  residence  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  I  endeavored  to  show  that  in  California  certain  social 
forces,  supplemented  by  the  competition  of  Chinese  coolies, 
had  reduced  the  wages  of  labor  to  a  point  that  bears  no  rela- 
tion whatever  to  the  value  of  labor,  but  is  regulated  solely 
by  the  standard  of  living  of  the  lowest  class  of  labor  in  the 
country;  and  that,  as  slavery  is  the  lowest  form  of  labor 
competing  there,  our  laborers  are  being  reduced  to  its  stan- 
dard of  living. 

THE  VALUE  OP  LABOR. 

The  gentleman  from  New  Hampshire  [Mr.  BAKER]  asked 
my  colleague  [Mr.  GEARY]  if  the  Chinese  did  not  give  full 
value  in  labor  for  the  $300,000,000  which  as  surplus  earnings 
they  have  carried  from  the  Pacific  coast  to  China  during  the 
last  twenty-five  years. 

I  answer  yes.  They  gave  much  more  than  value  for  it  to 
the  people  who  were  in  a  position  to  take  advantage  of  the 
cheapness  of  their  labor,  but  they  compelled  the  laborers  of 
our  own  race  to  surrender  an  equal  proportion  of  the  value 
of  their  earnings  to  the  same  monopolists. 

Let  me  say  further  to  the  gentleman,  that,  before  the  coming 
of  the  Chinese,  American  laborers  received  more  than  double 
the  wages  now  prevailing  in  California,  and  they  gave  full 
value  in  labor  for  every  dollar  that  they  received  in  wages 
then.  The  wealth-producing  power  of  labor  has  since  that 
time  increased  many  fold.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  increased 
wealth  production,  their  wages  have  fallen  50  per  cent.  Will 
gentlemen,  professing  a  desire  for  justice  of  labor,  applaud 
that  result? 

When  the  lands  of  California  were  free  and  the  American 
laborers  there  had  the  option  to  leave  the  labor  market  when 
its  conditions  were  unsatisfactory,  and  go  out  upon  the  land 
and  establish  independent  industries  and  means  of  subsistence 
for  themselves,  no  competition  of  servile  labor  could  injurious- 
ly affect  them,  but  would  tend  perhaps  to  drive  them  to 

105 


higher  pursuits,  and  to  callings  better  suited  to  their  intelli- 
gence and  capacity  than  the  kind  of  labor  for  which  they 
are  now  obliged  to  compete  with  the  Chinese. 

But  we  have  no  such  conditions  existing  there  now.  Ameri- 
can labor  is  not  free  there.  It  has  no  alternative  there,  any 
more  than  it  has  here,  to  leave  the  labor  market  when  the 
conditions  become  unsatisfactory.  It  must  find  its  employ- 
ment in  the  labor  market;  and  with  the  constant  presence  of 
a  large  body  of  unemployed  laborers  in  that  market,  the  tend- 
ency of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand— the  supply  exceeding 
the  demand— is  to  reduce  wages,  regardless  of  the  value  of 
labor,  to  the  lowest  standard  of  living  which  will  be  adopted 
by  the  most  hardly  pressed  class  of  laborers  looking  for  em- 
ployment. With  thousands  of  surplus  laborers  of  our  own 
race  in  the  labor  markets  of  California  wages  would,  in  any 
aase,  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  standard  according  to  which 
Caucasian  laborers  would  consent  to  live;  but,  with  that 
great  army  of  unemployed  Caucasian  laboreres  supplemented 
by  nearly  a  hundred  thousand  Chinese,  whose  standard  of 
living  is  so  low  that  no  American  laborer  can  submit  to  it 
and  live,  you  can  imagine  the  condition  to  which  Chinese 
immigration  has  brought  our  laboring  people. 

While  asserting  the  natural  rights  of  the  Chinese  and  de- 
fending the  position  which  he  held  on  the  Exclusion  Act  in 
1893,  Judge  Maguire  uses  the  following  language: 

"He,— the  Chinaman,— has  the  same  right  to  an  independ- 
ent home  that  I  have,  but  he  has  no  right  to  invade  my  home, 
nor  I  his;  and  as  I  have  but  followed  the  Creator's  law  of 
3volution  in  building  the  institutions  which  constitute  my  civi- 
lization, I  have  a  right  to  defend  them,  as  well  against  the 
unarmed  invader  from  China  as  against  the  armed  soldier 
from  Great  Britain. 

The  Judge  is  a  learned  lawyer.  If  he  had  a  case  in  court 
in  which  he  opposed  my  interests  I  should  certainly  engage 
able  and  experienced  counsel  for  my  defense.  But  this  is 
a  case  in  which  every  citizen  is  called  upon  to  defend  him- 
self and  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him.  It  is  not 
a  case  wherein  the  musty  precedents  of  forgotten  law  can  be 
cited  to  obstruct  the  forward  movement  of  men  in  the  living 
present.  This  is  a  case  in  which  every  "legal  fiction"  that 

T06 


be  introduced  must  be  pleaded  in  favor  of  human  liberty. 
Therefore,  in  estimating  the  strength  or  cogency  of  the 
Judge's  argument,  the  narrow  rules  of  legal  logic  prove  quite 
inadequate,— we  must  apply  those  higher  laws  of  natural  jus 
tice  whose  every  proposition  favors  the  greatest  margin  of 
human  freedom. 

The  Judge  says,  further:  "1  do  not  question  their  equal 
right,— that  of  the  Chinese,— to  the  sustenance  of  human  life 
but  I  recognize  the  fact  that  the  same  Creator  has  established 
the  family,  and  by  his  law  of  human  gregariousness  has  de- 
creed that  through  the  family  and  the  community  civiliza- 
tion shall  be  evolved  and  defended." 

This  is,  certainly,  a  clear  and  complete  sentence,  explicit 
and  unmistakable.  Taken  in  connection  with  the  sentence 
wherein  the  Judge  defends  his  "home"  from  invasion,  it 
will  not  only  bear,  but  certainly  demands,  the  most  careful 
eonsideration.  If  the  Chinese  have  equal  rights  to  the  natu- 
ral bounties  of  the  Great  Creator,  what  moral  right  has  the 
Judge  to  bar  them  from  seeking  their  elements  of  sustenance 
in  California  as  long  as  they  leave  enough  of  those  necessary 
elements  of  life  for  the  sustenance  of  the  Judge  and  his 
family?  And  the  Judge  admits,  and  emphasizes  his  admis- 
sion, that  "our  natural  resources  are,  indeed,  measureless 
and  inexhaustible." 

The  Judge  claims  that  the  "Creator  has  established  the 
family?"  But  we  must  ask:  "What  family?"  Was  it  the 
Aryan,  the  Mongolian  or  African?  Or,  to  become  more  ex- 
plicit still,— was  it  the  Hebrew,  the  Christian  or  the  Moham- 
medan family? 

All  these  families  are  certainly  now  on  the  earth  and  I 
think  the  Judge  must  admit  that  history  is  silent  as  to  which 
af  these  several  branches  of  the  human  family  the  Creator 
specifically  established.  Therefore,  if  history  is  thus  silent 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  whole  human  family  it  is,  certainly, 
not  in  order  for  any  man  to  claim  any  specific  favor  from  the 
Creator  in  relation  to  the  rights  of  his  own  particular  family. 

Further:  if  the  exhaustive  investigations  into  the  origin 
of  human  institutions  have  any  claim  to  command  our  respect 
or  any  right  to  influence  our  opinions  and  actions  in  this  vital 
matter,  they  drive  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Chinese  family. 
as  we  know  it  to-day,  when  compared  with  what  the  Courts 

T07 


have  decided  to  be  the  status  of  the  family  in  the  United 
States,  has  at  least  the  equal  sanction  of  the  Creator.  That 
is,  if  we  are  to  judge  of  the  Creator's  sanction  or  approval 
of  any  family  by  the  permanence  and  continuity  of  the 
institutions  of  that  family,  what  must  we  conclude  of  that 
nation  or  people,  or  family,  if  you  prefer,  which  has  main- 
tained its  national  existence  for  at  least  four  thousand  years, 
more  than  five  times  as  long  as  Greece  or  Rome  and  more  than 
double  the  duration  of  the  empires  of  Assyria,  Babylonia,  or 
even  Egypt,  as  accredited  by  any  continuous  or  authentic 
history?  With  all  their  boasted  "civilization,"  their  national 
vitality  exhausted  itself  in  a  few  centuries,  while  those  of 
China  have  swung  serenely  on  through  all  the  ages  not  only 
unmoved  by,  but  actually  ignorant  of,  the  rise  or  fall  of  the 
scores  of  mushroom  nations  of  "outside  barbarians"  as  the 
lofty  pride  of  the  dignified  "Celestials"  habitually  dubbed 
them. 

Here  was  a  nation,  or  a  world  family,  whose  great  moral 
teacher,  Confucius,  lived  and  taught  more  than  five  hundred 
years  before  Christ.  And  it  was  this  great  teacher  who  gave 
humanity  the  Golden  Rule,  almost  word  for  word,  long  be- 
fore the  Founder  of  Christianity  promulgated  it  among  the 
Jews. 

To  this  same  nation  all  the  later  world  owes  the  ^farmers' 
Compass,— Gunpowder  and  some  say  the  Breech-Loading- 
Cannon,— the  actual  calculation  and  prediction  of  Lunar 
Eclipses  and  that  most  wonderful  and  important  invention 
of  all  time,  the  Art  of  Printing.  And  these  by  no  means  ex- 
haust the  list  of  their  benefits  to  the  whole  human  race. 

Thus  it  is  reasonable  to  concede  that  the  nation,  or  family, 
which  has  lasted  longest,  taught  the  highest  morality,  and 
given  the  human  race  some  of  the  most  beneficial  inventions 
ar  discoveries,  must  be  favored  by  the  Creator  of  the  universe. 
The  Judge  has  introduced  no  evidence  to  prove  that,  at  any 
period  of  the  world's  history,  the  Creator  has  shown  any 
preference  for  any  distinct  or  definite  people  or  kind  of  civi- 
lization. And  this  is  simply  what  we  should  anticipate  from 
a  Creator  who,— as  Holy  Writ  distinctly  assures  us,— is  "no 
respecter  of  persons. ' '  Yet,  if  human  history  has  plainly  and 
unmistakably  taught  any  one  lesson  above  all  others,  along 
this  line,  it  is  that  the  Creator  has  specially  favored  the  Chi- 

108 


nese  family  of  man  and,  therefore,  that  He  cannot  be  antag- 
onistic to  Chinese  Civilization. 

The  Judge  says:  "He,— the  Chinaman,— has  no  right  to 
invade  my  home."  In  this  instance,  and  all  through  his  argu- 
ment the  Judge  means,  of  course,  to  use  "home"  in  the  wider 
sense  of  "country,"  a  front  and  back  yard  extending  from 
the  swamps  of  sultry  Sulu  to  the  frozen  confines  of  Alaska, 
thence  stretching  across  the  Western  Continent  to  the  pleasant 
vales  of  the  Passamaquoddy.  This  is,  indeed,  a  very  wide  area 
to  be  covered  by  the  term  "home."  The  Judge  does  not  deny, 
the  legal  right  of  every  American  citizen,— including  the  citi- 
zens of  Chinese  parentage,— to  equal  access  to,  and  equal  rights 
in,  his  "home"  from  which  he  would  exclude  the  Chinese 
laborer,  without  the  ballot,  no  matter  how  intelligent,  or  how 
skilled,  that  laborer  might  be.  The  Judge  must  also  concede 
that  he  occupies  this  large  American  "home"  in  common,— 
or  in  joint  ownership,  if  he  prefers,  with  all  who  can  lawfully 
claim  American  citizenship. 

As  a  joint,  or  common,  owner  in  this  "home"  of  Judge 
Maguire,  et  at,  I  claim  the  right  to  cultivate  my  individual 
portion  of  the  common  kitchen  garden  in  accordance  with  my 
own  notions  of  agriculture.  And,  as  a  part  of  the  soil  in  my 
garden  is  especially  adapted  to  the  growth  of  Rice,  I  desire  to 
engage  the  services  of  a  skilled  Asiatic  agriculturalist,  an  ex- 
pert in  that  line  to  help  me  in  this  attempt.  My  share  of  the 
products  of  the  garden  of  this  conglomerate  "home"  is  ample 
for  the  purpose  of  compensating  this  Asiatic  as,  in  a  free 
market,  he  consents  to  exchange  service— or  its  equivalent— 
with  me  in  the  ratio  of  4  to  5. 

The  progress  of  civilization  depends  upon  our  freedom 
to  employ  others  to  assist  us  in  the  production  of  wealth. 
But  the  Judge  has  no  sympathy  with  me,  or  toleration  for 
me,  in  my  efforts  to  cultivate  my  share  of  my  nation 's  ' '  home ' ' 
by  employing  any  toiler  that  I  may  find  suited  to  my  purpose, 
if  the  worker  happens  to  be  a  Chinaman.  The  Judge  violates 
my  personal  liberty  when  he  hinders  me  from  engaging  a 
worker  suited  to  my  purpose.  And  compels  me  to  employ  a 
laborer  whose  chief  distinction  is  that  he  is  a  voter— actual  or 
potential.  And  there  comes  in  another  hindrance  or  limita- 
tion to  my  liberty:  this  laborer  belongs  to  a  "Union."  This 
union  protects  and  backs  him  up  in  charging  me  *  *  all  that  the 

109 


traffic  will  bear."  In  this  case  the  "traffic  can  not  bear  the 
expense  of  securing  his  service.  These  two  things  combine 
to  hinder  and  prevent  me  from  engaging  in  just  that  on^ 
special  industry  for  which  my  soil  is  best  suited. 

This  is  the  "home"  on  which  the  Judge  bases  his  argument 
for  exclusion.  I,  who  claim  equal  rights  with  the  Judge,  have 
no  real  liberty;  my  initiative  and  individuality  are  curtailed. 
The  Judge 's  doctrine  of  the  inviolability  of  his  ' '  home ' '  places 
me  at  the  mercy  of  certain  "privileged  classes,"  whose  chief 
virtues  consist  in  having  a  white  skin,  and  in  their  capacity 
to  vote,  or  to  become  voters. 

According  to  Judge  Maguire's  logic,  if  one  race  can  be 
kept  out  of  a  country,  on  the  ground  that  the  "home"  is 
endangered  by  their  presence,  then  any  race  may  be  shut 
out  for  the  same  reason.  I  find  no  statistics  in  the  judge's 
speech  to  justify  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  holding 
exclusive  possession  of  the  immense  territory  which  they  now 
claim,  or  that  there  is  even  a  remote  danger  of  the  people 
aforesaid  outrunning  the  limits  of  subsistence. 

He  gives  no  facts  to  show  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  in  reasonable  need  of  the  "measureless  and  inex- 
haustible resources"  which  he  would  allow  them  to  hold 
under  the  legal  fiction  involved  in  the  term  "home".  And 
that  is  the  actual  and  incontrovertible  fact  which  upsets  and 
vitiates  the  Judge's  argument.  There  is  no  need  for  this 
''dog  in  the  manger"  policy.  A  country  whose  resources  are 
"measureless  and  inexhaustible"  cannot  suffer  materially  by 
the  presence  of  a  few  thousand  Chinese  whose  chief  work  in 
the  community  is  to  increase  the  products  extracted  from 
nature— for  which  they  do  not  receive  equitable  compensation. 
If  the  Judge's  argument  is  sound  it  could  have  been  used  with 
equal  force  by  the  American  Indians  when  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  invaded  their  "home"  in  1620.  And  the  Pilgrims. 
by  the  same  argument,  would  have  been  justified  in  keeping 
the  Judge's  immediate  ancestors  out  of  this  glorious  country 
of  "measureless  and  inexhaustible  resources." 

I  will  again  ask  the  reader  to  remember  that  in  my  com- 
ments on  Judge  Maguire's  speech,  wherever  I  have  used  the 
term  "home",  I  used  it  as  synonymous  with  the  term 
1 '  country. ' '  And  I  think  now.  that  without  further  ^xam- 
i nation  the  fair-minded  reader  who  has  carefully  followed 

1 10 


my  comments  on  the  Judge's  speech  musi  concede  that  in 
the  last  analysis  his  argument,  either  directly  or  by  inference, 
rests  upon  force,  as  do  nearly  all  arguments  made  to  justify 
the  exclusion  of  people  from  their  natural  rights. 

Mr.  Gompers,  the  President  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  put  the  principle  very  tersely  in  his  last  annual 
address,  when  he  said :  "It  may  be  safely  asserted  that,  as  a 
rule,  in  our  time,  those  who  have  no  power  to  insist  upon  and 
maintain  their  rights,  have  no  rights  to  maintain. ' ' 

If  the  statistics  of  the  death  rate  among  both  the  white  and 
negro  children  of  this  country  are  correct— and  their  correct- 
ness seems  beyond  dispute— we  will,  at  a  no  very  remote 
period,  need  all  the  children  of  "far  Cathay"  who  may  come 
to  our  shores,  to  remain  and  "be  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and 
replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it." 

From  present  indications,  the  population  of  this  count  rv-r 
other  than  Asiatic— will  never  increase  in  sufficient  numbers 
to  subdue  this  immense  continental  territory. 

Henry  George  has  plainly  shown  that  the  bugbear  of  over- 
population is  removed  to  the  remote  future.  And  we  are 
not  justified  in  providing  for  a  contingency  that  may  never 
occur.  Modern  civilization  depends  upon  the  free  migration 
of  the  races  of  the  earth.  An  expansive  population  is  a  con- 
dition precedent  to  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
diversified  industries. 

This  continent  contains  areas  of  fertile  soil  amply  sufficient 
for  the  comfortable  support  of  at  least  a  round  billion  of 
well-fed,  prosperous  inhabitants.     Nor  do  we  limit  it,  even 
in  thought,  to  the  whites,  or  blacks,  or  reds.    We  include  all 
the  colors  and  all  the  kinds  that  the  beneficent  Creator  has 
placed  upon  this  planet  to  "occupy,  posesss,  ciiltivate  and 
enjoy  it. ' '    Let  them  come  from  all  the  nations  of  the  earth : 
1 1  From  Greenland 's  icy  mountains. 
From  India's  coral  strand,— 
Where  Afric's  sunny  fountains 
Roll  down  their  golden  sand." 

The  Creator  commanded  the  human  family  to  "Be  fruitful 
and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it."  And 
that  command  is  still  in  force  and  must  remain  so  till  the 
whole  earth  is  subdued  and  replenished. 

In  this  argument  the  Indian  has  been   introduced   as  an 

III 


illustration.  He  is  a  member  of  the  human  family,  who  was 
free  and  easy  with  his  home,  and  when  the  white  people  on 
American  soil  wanted  to  use  and  monopolize  the  land  which 
he  used  in  the  chase,  they  had  no  scruples  in  despoiling  the 
Red  man  of  the  territorial  gifts  which  his  Creator  bestowed 
upon  him.  In  strict  ethics,  the  right  of  the  Indian  was  as 
sacred  as  the  rights  of  any  other  human  being.  But  the 
Indian  lacked  the  power  to  defend  his  home  aaginst  the  con- 
tinuous assault  of  the  Caucasian  robber.  And  so  the  ethical 
standard  of  the  White  man  is  not  disturbed  when  he  steals 
from  and  destroys  those  who  cannot  defend  themselves. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  California  fifty  years  ago  decided 
that  as  far  as  the  testimony  of  a  Chinaman  against  a  white 
man  was  concerned,  the  Chinaman  was  on  a  level  with  the 
son  of  the  forest,  and  the  evidence  of  neither  could  deprive 
the  white  man  of  his  liberty,  nor  contribute  to  his  punishment 
in  any  form. 

The  Chinese— in  China— were  suspected  of  being  unable 
to  defend  their  homes  according  to  the  methods  of  modern 
warfare,  and  the  warships  of  the  Christian  nations  hovered 
around  their  coast,  like  wolves  around  the  carcass  of  a  dead 
lion. 

Since  the  affair  between  Japan  and  Russia,  there  seems  to 
be  a  distinct  change  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  desirability 
of  attempting  to  take  their  home  from  the  Chinese  by  force. 
Yet  the  suspicion  of  their  national  we?  fcness  that  has  gone 
abroad  in  the  past  has  militated  against  their  obtaining  their 
individual  rights  in  this  country.  Our  government  granted 
the  ballot  to  the  lowest  scum  of  Europe,  and  withheld  it  from 
the  natives  of  China.  Hence  the  Chinese  have  been  unable 
to  hold  their  own  in  this  country.  We  have  refused  them  the 
weapon  which  we  grant  to  every  other  immigrant.  And  then, 
because  we  have  made  and  keep  them  politically  and  legally 
helpless,  we  abuse  them.  This  is  the  only  way  to  put  it.  We 
abuse  them  because  we  can  do  so  with  impunity.  At  least,  it 
has  been  so.  Possibly  the  Chinese  begin  to  recognize  that 
since  the  marvelous  military  successes  of  their  kinsmen  (the 
Japanese)  they  may  be  able  to  do  something  in  that  line 
themselves,  and  thus  regain  our  respect. 

The  recent  war  between  Japan  and  Russia  must  have  taught 
the  Chinese  one  great  lesson,— namely,  that  the  quality  the 

I  12 


Christian  nations  respect  the  most  in  one  another  is  their 
capacity  to  destroy  human  life  at  wholesale.  The  reader  will 
pardon  this  digression. 

Let  us  return  to  the  supposed  results  of  Chinese  cheap 
labor— the  poverty  of  the  California  toiler. 

No  man  in  all  free  America  knows  better  than  Judge  Ma  - 
guire  that  no  just  judgment  can  ascribe  the  poverty  of  th<> 
people  to  the  presence  of  the  Chinese  in  our  country.  In  his 
work  on  "Poverty,"  published  this  year,  Mr.  Robert  Hunter, 
a  most  conservative  writer,  states  that  "there  are  probably 
in  this  country,  in  fairly  prosperous  years,  no  less  than  ten 
millions  of  persons  in  actual  poverty,— that  is  to  say,  poorly 
housed,  poorly  clad  and  underfed.  Of  these  four  millions 
are  public  paupers."  Now,  don't  forget,  please,  that  these 
figures  apply  to  a  country  whose  natural  resources  are,  in- 
deed, "measureless  and  inexhaustible,"  and  where  the  men 
who  go  hungry  and  are  underfed  have  the  ballot.  And  they 
are  not  Chinamen,  either. 

And  our  country  is  not  exceptional  in  the  poverty  of  its 
toilers.  Nor  does  such  a  condition  exist  because  of  the  hete- 
rogeneous nature  of  its  population.  To  prove  this  let  ri'O 
quote  the  statistics  of  the  conditions  of  the  toiler  in  another 
so-called  Anglo-Saxon  country  in  which  many  of  the  workers 
have  the  ballot,  but  do  not  use  it  to  their  own  advantage.  The 
following  comes  from  a  dispatch  to  the  San  Francisco  Exam- 
iner of  October  6th,  1904 : 

LONDON,  October  5,  1904.— "Joseph  Chamberlain  opened 
his  fiscal  campaign  at  Luton,  Bedfordshire,  England,  and 
among  other  things,  said  the  following:  'There  were  now 
fewer  laborers  by  a  million  than  there  were  in  1851,  and 
13,000,000  are  underfed.'  "  These  are  the  conditions  that 
obtain  in  the  most  advanced  countries  in  the  world— m  Anglo- 
Saxon  countries,  if  you  please.  This,  too,  with  the  doctrines 
of  Henry  George  before  them  for  the  past  quarter  of  a  cent- 
ury. So  it  is  manifest  folly  to  attempt  to  hinder  or  delay  the 
inevitable  working  of  economic  law  till  we  judgo  that  poople 
have  become  able  and  willing  to  formulate  statutes  based 
upon  equity. 

Hear  what  the  historian  Robertson  says  upon  this  matter: 
'""To  abandon  usurped  power,  to  renounce  lucrative  error,  are 
sacrifices  which  the  virtue  of  individuals  has.  on  some  occa- 

"3 


sions,  offered  to  truth,  but  from  no  society  of  men  can  such  an 
effort  be  expected.  The  corruptions  of  society  recommended 
by  universal  practice  are  viewed  by  its  members  without  shame 
or  horror,  and  reformation  never  proceeds  from  themselves, 
but  is  always  forced  upon  them  by  some  foreign  hand." 

If  we  postpone  equitable  legislation  until  those  who  would 
most  benefit  by  it  demand  it,  it  will  be  a  very  long  time  in 
coming.  While  people  are  taught  and  believe  that  they  have- 
some  privileges  which  they  enjoy  at  the  expense  of  another 
class,  they  are  slow  to  move  for  reform.  And,  as  Robertson 
says:  "Reformation  never  proceeds  from  themselves,  but 
is  always  forced  upon  them  by  some  foreign  hand." 

In  the  case  we  are  considering  this  "foreign  hand"  is  the 
absolute  necessity  of  retaining  the  Chinese  market  for  the 
disposal  of  surplus  American  products,  and  the  equally 
imperative  necessity  of  giving  China  some  reasonable  degree 
of  reciprocal  advantages  in  this  country  for  the  privileges 
she  grants  to  us. 

The  legislation  which  will  bring  about  the  above  conditions 
we  must  supplement  by  statutes  setting  free  our  own  "meas- 
ureless and  inexhaustible"  natural  resources.  And  for  this 
purpose  I  am  more  than  glad  to  advocate  the  measure  pro- 
posed by  Judge  Maguire. 

When  we  remove  the  fences  surrounding  our  own  "inex- 
haustible resources"  no  one  will  object  to  a  reasonable  immi- 
rgation  of  select  laborers  from  China  or  any  other  country. 
The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  When  our  own  people  have 
free  access  to  the  natural  wealth  of  their  own  country,  without 
compulsory  payment  to  some  individual  for  the  privilege,  the 
laborer  himself  will  receive  the  first  benefit  of  the  change. 
And  the  change  will  be  this:  the  worker,  now  pressed  to  th«- 
wall  by  a  greedy  employer,  will  have  the  opportunity  of  goint! 
directly  to  the  source  of  wealth  for  himself,  thereby  becoming 
his  own  employer.  He  may  never  take  advantage  of  thi* 
opportunity,— it  may  be  best  for  all  concerned  that  he  should 
not  do  so,— but  set  the  resources  free  and  he  has  the  alterna 
tive.  He  has  no  alternative  now.  In  that  one  word,  alterna- 
tive, and  all  that  it  implies,  lies  his  freedom.  Even  nov . 
with  all  the  hampered  conditions  that  obtain,  there  are  far 
more  people  in  California  who  are  injured  by  the  exclusion  of 

114 


the  Chinese  than  there  are  people  whom  his  exclusion  would 
benefit. 

The  people  of  this  coast  who  would  receive  the  benefit  an* 
those  who  are  neither  rich  nor  poor,  but  who  have  sufficient 
enterprise  and  intelligence  to  use  skilled  labor  to  aid  them 
in  starting  industries  wherein  such  intelligence  and  labor 
become  more  powerful  factors  than  mere  capital.  All  over 
the  western  country  one  may  find  thousands  of  such  people. 
But  they  are  not  organized  into  trade  unions  and  from  the 
very  nature  of  things  they  cannot  be.  They  have  no  walking 
delegates  to  sound  their  praises  or  to  acquire  special  privileges 
for  them. 

My  contention  is  that,  as  the  Chinese  in  California  have 
never  received  the  ballot,  they  have  never  hindered  the  white 
toiler  from  making  any  law  necessary  to  secure  for  himself 
man's  natural  heritage,  free  and  equal  access  to  the  land. 
The  white  toiler  in  California  is  always  an  actual  or  a  possible 
voter.  And  I  further  contend  that  there  is  neither  justice  nor 
equity  in  keeping  the  Chinese  laborer  out  of  this  country,  to 
which  he  has  the  natural  right  of  access,  until  such  time  as 
the  majority  of  the  white  laborers  in  California  know  their 
legal  rights  and  have  both  the  intelligence  to  demand  them 
and  the  courage  to  maintain  them. 

In  the  older  states  of  our  country  the  same  industrial 
problems  demand  solution.  They  have  no  Chinese  competi- 
tion worthy  the  name.  The  land,— the  source  of  all  wealth,— 
is  monopolized  just  as  here.  Yet  we  know  of  no  movement 
by  the  people  of  any  eastern  or  southern  state  to  rid  them- 
selves of  the  deadly  incubus  of  land  monopoly.  Nor  does 
there  seem  any  present  reason  to  hope  that  the  white  toilers 
of  those  states  who  have  the  ballot  but  have  not  the  sense  to 
use  it,  even  contemplate  such  a  movement.  They  annually 
celebrate  the  Declaration  of  Independence  made  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth Century,  but  have  neither  the  sense  nor  the  courage 
to  make  a  greater  one  for  themselves  in  these  opening  years 
of  the  Twentieth  Century.  But  the  negative  features  of 
apathy  or  indifference  are  by  no  means  the  worst  facts  in  the 
case.  One  of  the  largest  organized  bodies  of  laborers  in  the 
world,— the  American  Federation  of  Labor,— persistently  re- 
fuses even  to  discuss  such  problems. 

It  is  now  twelve  years  since  Judge  Masruire  delivered  liis 

MS 


famous  speech  in  Congress  in  favor  of  the  Exclusion  Law. 
Yet  not  a  single  labor  organization  in  California— with  the 
exception  of  the  Bricklayers'  Union,  quoted  by  Judge  Ma- 
guire—  has  taken  up  the  advocacy  and  the  promotion  of  the 
principles  which  the  Honorable  Judge  then  so  forcibly  an- 
nounced! How  long,  Judge,  shall  we  have  to  wait  for  your 
American  laborer,  now  sleeping  on  his  rights,  to  wake  to  the 
acquisition  and  enjoyment  of  the  benefits  of  free  exchange  of 
services  with  Chinese  other  than  those  claiming  to  be  mer- 
chants, etc.? 

With  these  few  desultory  paragraphs  I  finish  my  comments 
on  the  state  and  national  legislative  persecution  of  the  Chi- 
nese people  in  this  country. 


116 


44  Tf  thou  seest  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  violent  perverting  of 
judgment  and  justice  in  a  province,  marvel  not  at  the  matter:  for  he  that 
is  higher  than  the  highest  reganleth;  and  there  be  higher  than  they." 

— Eccl.  5:8. 

"The  superior  man  is  catholic  and  no  partisan.  The  mean  man  is 
a  partisan  and  not  catholic." — Confucius. 


SOME  RECENT  EXCLUSION  DECISIONS. 


As  the  Dred-Scott  decision  fixed  the  legal  status  of  the 
negro  in  this  country  and  accelerated  the  pace  at  which  we 
were  then  marching  toward  a  civil  war,  so  the  case  of  the 
United  States  vs.  Ju  Toy  has  fixed  the  status  of  the  native 
American  citizen  of  Chinese  descent,  and  thus  bids  fair  to 
become  historic.  We  do  not  expect  that  the  results  flowing 
from  this  decision  will  precipitate  a  war  between  this  country 
and  China,  although  it  is  safe  to  say  that  we  would  hesitate 
long  before  committing  such  an  outrage  upon  a  citizen  of  a 
nation  whose  army  and  navy  commanded  our  respect;  and 
with  whom  we  had  treaty  relations. 

In  summoning  the  authorities  and  precedents,  Mr.  Justice 
Holmes,  who  wrote  the  decision  in  the  case,  seemed  to  cite 
every  precedent  that  made  for  the  curtailment  of  human 
liberty,  allowing  the  sufferer  by  the  decision,  who  claimed 
to  be  a  native  American,  know  no  means  of  redress.  This  is 
the  very  serious  result  which  flows  from  our  hasty  and  cruel 
legislation  in  regard  to  the  Chinese.  The  decision  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  court  has  attracted  widespread  attention,  and 
has  been  ably  commented  upon,  so  that  it  would  be  a  work  of 
supererogation  on  my  part  to  attempt  to  review  it.  For  the 
purpose  of  making  this  statement  of  use  to  the  reader  who  has 
not  read  anything  about  the  Ju  Toy  decision,  I  will  reprint  a 
short  review  of  it  by  the  Honorable  John  W.  Foster,  L.L.D., 
than  whom  there  is  within  the  limits  of  our  country  no  pub- 
licist more  capable  of  the  task.  Dr.  Foster 's  article  was 
printed  in  the  New  York  Independent  on  June  3rd,  1905,  and 
reads  as  follows: 

117 


A  DECISION  OF  MOST  PROFOUND  IMPORTANCE- 
BY  JOHN  W.  FOSTER,  L.L.D.,  EX-SECRETARY  OF 
STATE. 

The  above  title  is  the  characterization  by  Mr.  Justice  Brewer 
of  a  decision  recently  rendered  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  in  a  Chinese  case.  It  adds  another  to  the  long 
list  of  acts  of  an  unfriendly  class  inflicted  upon  the  Chinese 
people  which  have  reflected  so  unfavorably  upon  our  nation. 

The  case,  briefly  stated,  is  that  of  a  native-born  citizen  of 
the  United  States  who,  having  made  a  visit  to  China,  the 
gountry  of  his  parents,  on  reaching  San  Francisco  was  held 
by  the  Immigration  officials  to  be  a  Chinaman  and  was  refused 
admittance  into  the  United  States.  Under  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  he  was  brought  before  the  United  States  District 
Judge  of  San  Francisco,  who  upon  hearing  evidence  declared 
that,  having  been  born  in  this  country,  he  was  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States  and  as  such  entitled  to  admission.  The  case 
was  appealed  by  the  Federal  authorities  through  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Appeals  to  the  Supreme  Court.  The  latter  court  has 
just  held  that,  in  view  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  August  18th, 
1894,  which  provided  that  the  decision  of  the  proper  immi- 
gration officer  excluding  an  alien  from  admission  is  final, 
there  can  be  no  adjudication  of  the  question  of  citizenship 
by  the  courts  and  that  relief  cannot  be  had  through  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus. 

If  this  is  to  stand  as  the  law  in  the  United  States,  punish- 
ment by  banishment  may  be  inflicted  upon  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  in  violation  of  what  have  heretofore  been  held 
to  be  inestimable  guaranties  of  the  Constitution.  Article 
III,  section  2,  provided  that ' '  the  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in 
cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by  jury*';  and  by  the  Fifth 
Amendment  no  person  can  "be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or 
property  without  due  process  of  law",  and,  further,  "no 
person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infa- 
mous crime,  unless  on  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  a  grand 
jury."  The  highest  court  of  our  country  has  decided  that 
the  due  process  of  law  is  granted  by  the  hearing  before  the 
immigration  official ;  that  trial  by  jury  may  be  in  the  same  way 
superseded;  that  a  citizen  may  suffer  the  infamous  punish- 
ment of  perpetual  banishment  from  the  land  of  his  birth  by 
the  same  procedure,  and  that  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  so 

118 


dearly  prized  as  "the  remedy  which  the  law  gives  for 
enforcement  of  the  civil  right  of  personal  liberty 
effective  against  the  decision  of  an  obscure  immigration  offi 
cer. 

Let  us  see  what  is  this  ' '  due  process  of  law ' '.  The  immigra- 
tion officer  who  controls  the  Constitutional  guaranties  above 
eited  is  rarely  if  ever  possessed  of  any  legal  education  and  is 
chosen  rather  because  of  his  fitness  as  a  police  officer  or  de- 
tective. Under  the  authority  of  the  laws  passed  by  Congress 
for  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  laborers  a  series  of  rules  have 
been  adopted  by  the  Immigration  Bureau.  These  rules  pro- 
vide that  when  a  Chinese  person  arrives  at  a  port  or  on  the 
frontier  of  the  United  States  the  immigration  officer  shall 
prevent  the  Chinese  person  from  having  communication  with 
any  one  but  the  officer ;  that  the  officer  shall  examine  him  in 
private  touching  his  right  of  admission,  without  any  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  assistance  of  an  atttorney  or  friend,  and 
that  only  such  witnesses  shall  be  heard  as  the  examining  offi- 
cer shall  designate,  and  they  examined  in  private.  In  this 
way  the  right  of  the  Chinese  applicant  is  advised  of  his  right 
to  appeal  to  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  when  he 
san  employ  counsel,  who  is  permitted  upon  filing  notice  of 
appeal,  to  examine,  but  not  to  copy,  the  ex  parte  evidence 
taken  by  the  immigration  officer.  Notice  of  appeal  must  be 
filed  within  two  days,  and  within  three  days  a  record  of  the 
case,  including  new  affidavits  (for  there  is  no  open  or  public 
hearing),  must  be  forwarded  to  Washington.  The  burden 
of  proof  is  placed  on  the  Chinese  person,  and  in  every  doubt- 
ful case  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  is  given  to  the  Government. 
No  provision  is  made  for  summoning  witnesses  from  a  dis- 
tance (for  instance,  from  the  state  in  which  the  applicant 
was  born)  or  taking  depositions. 

Well  might  Mr.  Justice  Brewer  ask:  "If  this  be  not  a  star 
chamber  proceeding  of  the  most  stringent  sort,  what  more  is 
necessary  to  make  it  one  ?  I  do  not  see  how  any  one  can  read 
these  rules  and  hold  that  they  constitute  due  process  of  law 
for  the  arrest  and  deportation  of  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States. " 

And  this  in  a  case  where  applicant  had  been  judicially  de- 
termined to  be  an  American  citizen.  Under  such  circum- 
stances the  Justice  quoted  and  the  two  colleagues  who  unite 

119 


with  him  in  dissent  (Justices  Peckham  and  Day)  are  justified 
in  the  declaration:  "Such  a  decision  is  appalling." 

I  give  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the  dissenting  opinion : 
"The  statutes  of  the  United  States  expressly  limit  the 
finality  of  the  determination  of  the  immigration  officers  to 
the  case  of  aliens.  It  has  been  conceded  by  the  Government 
that  those  statutes  do  not  apply  to  citizens,  and  this  court 
made  a  most  important  decision  based  upon  that  concession. 
The  rules  of  the  department  declare  that  the  statutes  do  not 
apply  to  citizens,  and  yet  in  the  face  of  all  this  we  are  told 
that  they  may  be  enforced  against  citizens,  and  that  Congress 
so  intended.  Banishment  of  a  citizen  not  merely  removes 
him  from  the  limits  of  his  native  land,  but  puts  him  beyond 
reach  of  any  of  the  protecting  clauses  of  the  Constitution. 
In  other  words,  it  strips  him  of  the  rights  which  are  given  to  a 
citizen.  I  cannot  believe  that  Congress  intended  to  provide 
that  a  citizen,  simply  because  he  belongs  to  an  obnoxious  race, 
can  be  deprived  of  all  the  liberty  and  protection  which  the 
Constitution  guarantees,  and  if  it  did  so  intend,  I  do  not 
believe  that  it  has  the  power  to  do  so. ' ' 

The  act  of  Congress  which  has  brought  about  this  "appall- 
ing decision "  was  inserted  as  an  amendment  to  the  Sundry 
Civil  appropriation  bill  of  1894,  and  illustrates  the  evil 
effects  of  such  a  method  of  procuring  legislation.  It  was  pre- 
pared at  the  Immigration  Bureau,  "smuggled"  into  the  ap- 
propriation bill,  where  it  had  no  legitimate  place,  and  went 
through  Congress  without  its  real  character  being  detected. 
As  Justice  Brewer  remarks,  doubtless  Congress  did  not  intend 
by  its  enactment  to  make  it  apply  to  citizens  or  to  deprive 
them  of  their  constitutional  guaranties. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  arraign  the  majority  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  If  I  attempted  it  I  could  not  use  stronger  language 
than  that  uttered  by  one  of  its  own  members.  Possibly  the 
court  believed  with  President  Grant  that  the  best  way  to 
secure  the  repeal  of  a  bad  law  was  to  enforce  it  vigorously. 
Such  ought  to  be  the  result  of  the  recent  decision.  When  it 
is  so  plainly  made  to  appear  that  under  the  act  of  1894,  as 
interpreted  by  the  Supreme  Court,  an  immigration  officer 
may  by  a  star  chamber  proceeding  exclude  a  native-born 
eitize'n  from  his  own  country,  Congress  ought  not  to  hesitate 

1 2O 


to  repeal  the  law  or  so  modify  it  as  to  remove  this  objection 
able  power. 

This  occurrence  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  cultivating 
among  our  people,  and  especially  our  rulers  and  law-makers, 
a  higher  standard  of  justice  in  the  treatment  of  the  Chinese 
race.  Our  Secretary  of  State  has  justly  won  the  commenda- 
tion of  his  countrymen  for  his  efforts  to  preserve  the  inde- 
pendence and  integrity  of  that  great  empire  so  that  our  trade 
with  it  shall  be  free  and  unrestricted.  Our  churches  are  con- 
tributing many  millions  of  dollars  to  carry  thither  our  religion 
and  our  civilization.  But  Congress,  under  the  whip  and  spur 
of  a  small  section  of  our  population,  enacts  legislation  which 
affronts  and  maltreats  that  cultivated  and  populous  national- 
ity and  in  great  measure  undoes  the  enlightened  work  of  our 
Government  and  the  churches. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

After  reading  the  foregoing  review  of  the  Ju  Toy  decision, 
its  wide  and  far-reaching  scope  will  be  seen  and  appreciated. 
There  is,  however,  a  paragraph  in  the  body  of  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Justice  Holmes  which  strikes  me  as  of  sufficient  import- 
ance to  be  printed  here,  with  a  few  words  about  its  possible 
eonsequences  when  used  by  parties  in  power  who  would  for 
any  unworthy  reason  deny  the  citizen  his  liberty  by  pro- 
ceedings that  are  now  recognized  as  equivalent  to  trial  by 
due  process  of  law. 

I  use  the  word  citizen  in  its  largest  sense.  Not  a  citizen  of 
Chinese  origin  merely,  but  an  American  citizen  of  any  racial 
origin.  Here  is  the  paragraph  in  question:  Mr.  Justice 
Holmes,  after  citing  the  law  in  the  case  of  Ross  vs.  Ross,  140 
United  States,  says: 

"The  petitioner,  although  physically  within  our  boundaries 
is  to  be  regarded  as  if  he  had  been  stopped  at  the  limit  of  our 
jurisdiction  and  kept  there  while  his  right  to  enter  was  under 
debate. " 

I  suppose  that  this  sentence  looks  perfectly  harmless  to 
those  who  are  learned  in  the  law;  but  for  some  reason,  which 
I  cannot  explain,  the  reading  of  it  revives  in  me  memories  of 
all  the  abuses  that  I  have  read  of  as  having  been  perpetrated 
in  France  under  the  authority  of  "Lettres  de  Cachet". 

T2I 


Here  are  some  of  the  opinions  of  the  press  on  the  effects  of 
the  Ju  Toy  decision: 

The  Philadelphia  Record  speaks  of  the  decisions  as  fol- 
lows : 

"The  decision  is  revolutionary  in  that  it  has  practically 
nullified  the  Fifth  and  Fourteenth  Amendments  and  clears 
the  way  for  the  destruction  by  a  legislative  enactment  of  one 
of  the  most  valued  provisions  of  the  Bill  of  Rights." 

The  Newbedford  Standard  says:  "If  this  principle  now 
announced  by  the  Supreme  Court  holds  good,  what  is  there 
to  save  almost  any  American  returning  to  his  home  from  a 
foreign  land  from  being  held  up  and  refused  admission  at 
the  whim  of  an  immigration  official?" 

"The  COM rt  in  this  case,"  according  to  the  New  York 
Tribune,  "proclaims  that  foreigners  of  all  sorts  can  now  be 
dismissed  summarily;" 

The  Boston  Traveler  says:  "The  Ju  Toy  decision  will  prob- 
ably result  in  the  next  Congress  passing  a  law  to  correct  this 
matter." 

While  the  decision  in  the  Ju  Toy  case  may  be  awarded  the 
prize  for  concentrating  the  greatest  amount  of  law,  both  statu- 
tary  and  juridicial,  in  which  human  rights  are  abridged  and 
denied,  there  are  other  decisions  from  the  same  tribunal  of 
nearly  equal  malignity.  We  can  almost  take  them  at  random 
from  the  reports.  Here  is  a  gem  from  the  case  of  the  United 
States  vs.  Ah  Fawn,  57  Federal  report.  It  was  decided  in  that 
case,  that  as  the  words  Chinese  laborers  include  all  other 
persons  than  those  coming  for  the  purpose  of  teaching,  trades, 
study  and  curiosity,  the  term  laborer  includes  gamblers  and 
all  belonging  to  the  criminal  class  known  as  "highbinders." 

So  to  please  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  an  organi- 
zation that  was  founded  to  obtain  justice  for  the  toiler,  the 
laws  are  made  so  that  the  courts  must  decide  that  the  laborer, 
if  he  be  a  Chinaman,  is  placed  in  the  same  category  as  the 
gambler  and  the  "highbinder."  And  by  parity  of  reasoning 
the  court  in  refusing  entrance  to  a  Chinese  woman  applying 
for  admission  to  this  country  as  a  member  of  the  exempt 
elass  would  not  outrage  legal  ethics  in  deciding  that  she  was 
&  prostitute.  In  fact  it  was  decided  in  the  opinion  of  Solici- 
tor of  Treasury,  February  7th,  1896,  that  "The  wife  partaken 
of  her  husband's  status  as  a  laborer,  and  as  such  is  debarred 

122 


admission  by  law."  This  language  places  her  on  a  level  with 
the  gambler  and  the  highbinder.  A  female  gambler  and  high- 
binder does  not  have  far  to  fall  to  become  a  prostitute.  The 
same  opinion  decided  that  Chinese  laborers  who  go  out  of 
the  country  under  the  provisions  of  the  recent  treaty  with 
China,  promulgated  December  8th,  1894,  cannot  be  permitted 
upon  returning  to  bring  their  wives  with  thorn.  And  still 
we  preach  of  Chinese  immorality.  The  old  ''statute  of  labor- 
ers" with  all  its  feudal  contempt  for  the  rights  of  the  toiler 
was  liberal  in  comparison  with  the  decisions  of  our  highest 
eourts  on  the  rights  of  the  laborer  when  h*  happens  to  be  of 
Chinese  birth  and  without  the  ballot.  Is  it  net  a  strange 
anomaly  that  the  American  laborer  should  accept  the  asser- 
tion that  capital  is  of  more  importance  than  labor  in  the  de- 
velopement  of  a  country.  The  acceptance  of  such  a  conclu- 
sion is  the  direct  confession  of  inferiority  on  the  part  of  the 
laborer.  And  if  the  laborer  voluntarily  places  himself  in  such 
a  position  what  can  he  expect?  from  those  who  assume  to 
constitute  a  class  other  than  laborers,  but  contempt  and  con- 
tumely ? 

As  a  laborer  I  utterly  loathe,  despise  and  repudiate  such 
a  classification.  The  American  laborer  has  no  adequate  con- 
3eption  of  his  importance  as  a  member  of  society.  He  practi- 
cally concedes  that  capital  is  the  most  important  factor  in 
the  production  of  wealth.  This  is  a  lie.  And  there  is  no  man 
more  interested  in  branding  it  a  lie  than  the  laborer.  Hear 
what  a  writer,  who  was  himself  a  laborer,  says  on  the  subject : 
'Capital  does  not  advance  wages  or  subsist  laborers;  but  its 
functions  are  to  assist  labor  in  production,  with  tools,  seed, 
etc.,  and  with  the  wealth  required  to  carry  on  exchanges." 

That  is  the  doctrine  that  has  the  ring  of  truth  in  it.  The 
jnly  doctrine  compatible  with  the  facts  of  the  case  and  with 
the  self-respect  of  the  worker.  Stand  up  fellow  workman, 
stand  up  for  your  rights.  Ask  no  less  and  take  no  more. 
But  remember  that  every  worker  on  this  earth's  surface  has 
the  sairfe  right  to  employment  and  the  same  right  to  compen- 
sation that  you  have. 

Here  is  another  golden  truth  from  the  brain  of  the  same 
worker,  who  toiled  at  the  printers*  case  and  knew  all  the  dis- 
abilities of  the  laborer:  "Each  laborer  in  performing  the 
labor  really  creates  a  fund  from  which  his  wages  are  drawn. 

123 


Then  wages  cannot  be  diminished  by  the  increase  of  laborers, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  as  the  efficiency  of  labor  manifestly 
increases  with  the  number  of  laborers,  the  more  laborers, 
other  things  being  equal,  the  higher  should  wages  be." 

This  is  fitting  close  to  my  comment  on  the  case  of  Ah  Fawn, 
wherein  he  was  classed  with  the  gambler  and  the  highbinder. 

Another  decision  on  the  status  of  the  laborer  is  embodied 
in  the  following  language:  "Laborers,  whenever  used  in 
this  act  (May  6th,  1882;  July  5th,  1884),  shall  be  construed 
to  mean  both  skilled  and  unskilled  laborers,  and  Chinese 
employed  in  mining." 

The  legitimate  inference  to  be  drawn  from  this  decision 
is  that  we  are  so  far  advanced  in  the  arts,  and  all  manner  of 
handicraft,  in  the  carving  of  ivory,  in  the  manufacture  of 
silks,  and  all  other  beautiful  things,  that  the  Chinese  artisan 
2an  teach  us  nothing. 

An  old  English  chronicle  states  that  in  1336:  "Two 
Brabant  weavers  settled  at  York,  England,  which  says,  Ed- 
ward III,  may  prove  of  great  benefit  to  us  and  our  subjects." 

If  two  skilled  Chinese  weavers  were  to  attempt  to  land  in 
this  country  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  the  product  of 
their  looms  with  us  they  would  be  refused  admission,  and  if 
by  chance  they  smuggled  their  way  in  and  were  adjudged 
by  some  incompetent  official  to  have  fraudulent  certificates 
they  would  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  $1000  and  imprisonment  in 
a  penitentiary  for  a  term  of  not  more  than  five  years. 

And  this  is  all  done  to  protect  weavers  already  in  the 
United  States,  many  of  them  of  Czolgoscz's  race  and  moral 
tendency.  Again  a  skilled  Chinese  miner  is  barred  from  land- 
ing on  our^  shores  upon  the  presumption  that  we  know  all 
about  mining  and  the  reduction  of  ores  and  that  the  Chinese, 
who  nave  had  a  thousand  years'  experience  in  the  manipula- 
tion of  minerals,  can  teach  us  nothing  in  that  line.  Then, 
the  exclusion  law  debars  us  from  utilizing  the  service  of  the 
Chinese  potter,  in  fashioning  the  useful  and  the  beautiful 
vessels  which  his  rare  knowledge  of  color  and  glaze  can  give 
us.  We  send  million  of  dollars  annually  out  of  our  country 
for  the  product  of  the  Asiatic  potter 's  wheel,  which,  by  a  wise 
policy,  could  be  kept  at  home.  Perhaps  this  may  be  enough 
on  the  question  of  Chinese  laborers.  The  Chinese  Govern- 
ment is  not  asking  in  a  particular  way  that  they  be  admitted 

124 


to  tnis  country.  It  only  asks  that  Chinese  laborers  who  are 
here  be  treated  in  the  same  manner  as  laborers  who  come  here 
from  any  other  country.  Personally,  as  a  citizen  of  this 
country,  not  removed  from  the  necessity  of  labor,  I  affirm 
that  our  country  needs  the  services  of  the  laborer,  skilled  or 
unskilled,  far  more  than  it  needs  the  service  of  any  of  the 
exempt  class. 

In  fact,  if  there  is  favor  to  be  shown  to  any  class  immi 
grating  to  this  country,  such  favors  should  be  shown  to  the 
alean,  healthy,  skilled  and  unskilled   toiler,  who  seeks  our 
shores,  from  any  clime. 

Henry  George  has  proved  to  any  reasonable  person  that  the 
efficiency  of  labor  manifestly  increases  with  the  number  of 
laborers.  The  more  laborers  the  higher  wages  should  be,  and 
that  each  laborer  creates  the  fund  from  which  his  wages  are 
drawn. 

When  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  learns  to  apply 
this  principle,  the  minor  question  of  Chinese  immigration 
will  be  easily  settled. 

"A  Chinese  merchant  is  a  person  engaged  in  buying  and 
selling  merchandise,  at  a  fixed  place  of  business,  and  who. 
during  the  time,  claims  to  be  engaged  as  a  merchant  and  does 
/lot  engage  in  the  performance  of  any  manual  labor,  except 
<mch  as  is  necessary  in  the  conduct  of  his  business  as  such 
merchant." 

The  foregoing  is  the  definition  of  the  term  merchant,  ac 
;.ording  to  the  Exclusion  Act. 

"Commercial  extension  is  in  proportion  to  the  prevalence 
of  Christian  intelligence  and  integrity."  Thus  spoke  Dr. 
Scott,  in  this  city,  fifty  years  ago.  The  same  speaker  says  that 
"foreign  and  domestic  trade  sustained  by  the  employment 
and  distribution  of  wealth  in  productive  industry  is  as  neces- 
sary to  the  healthful  progress  of  nations  as  the  circulation  of 
the  blood  and  the  inhaling  of  fresh  air  is  to  tlie  health  of  the 
body." 

"Again,"  he  says  in  his  delightful  little  volume,  "Trade 
and  Letters, "  "  commerce  and  agriculture  are  joined  together 
by  the  Creator  through  the  mechanic.  Not  a  single  vessel 
can  go  to  sea  without  the  aid  of  the  stalwart  tiller  of  the 
ground  and  the  handicraft  of  the  knight  of  tools. ' ' 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  quote  from  any  authority  to  just.ify 

.25 


the  necessity  of  commerce.  The  merchant's  is  indeed  a 
calling.  He  transfers  the  product  of  the  producer  to  the  con- 
sumer, and  thus  is  a  producer  himself  and  a  necessary  factor 
in  civilized  life.  The  American  laborer  concedes  that  he  is 
not  injured  by  the  entrance  of  any  number  of  merchants  of 
any  race  into  our  country.  But  the  United  States  Government 
at  the  behest  of  the  Trades  Unions  has  curtailed  the  freedom 
of  the  Chinese  merchant  to  such  an  extent  that  in  his  efforts 
to  move  freely  wherever  his  interests  demand  his  presence, 
he  is  subject  to  continual  abuse,  and  inconvenience.  In  a 
word,  he  is  treated  worse  than  a  criminal.  A  murderer  caught 
red-handed  in  the  act,  is  allowed. all  the  rights  that  com<>  t<> 
him  from  a  trial  by  a  jury  of  his  peers  according  to  <lu«- 
process  of  law,  which  in  the  case  of  the  murderer  compels 
the  Government  to  try  him  upon  the  legal  presumption  that 
he  is  innocent  until  he  is  proven  guilty.  How  about  our 
Chinese  merchants  in  this  country  ?  When,  for  instance,  ho 
is  charged  with  violation  of  the  statute  known  as  the  Exclu- 
sion law,  with  the  various  amendments  and  the  decision  of 
the  courts  flowing  therefrom,  "the  burden  of  lawful  right  to 
remain  in  the  United  States  is  upon  the  Chinese  person  or 
persons  charged  with  being  unlawfully  in  this  country,  ..Aral 
the  fact  that  the  Geary  act  so  provides  does  not  render  it  vio- 
lative  of  the  Federal  Constitution."  This  is  but  a  part  of  the 
modern  f  l  Statute  of  Merchants, ' '  which  governs  the  admission 
of  the  exempt  class  into  this  country.,  And  we  wonder  why 
the  Chinese  boycott  American  products.  What  may  happen 
to  a  merchant  of  Chinese  parentage  who  after  a  visit  to  the 
tomb  of  his  ancestors  seeks  to  re-enter  the  land  of  his  birth, 
is  shown  by  the  extract  from  the  dissenting  opinion  of  Mr, 
Justice  Brewer  in  the  case  of  Ju  Toy,  which  was  decided 
at  the  October  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1904. 

Justice  Brewer  quotes  the  following  rules  governing  the 
admission  of  all  Chinese  persons  to  our  country: 

"Immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  Chinese  persons  *  *  * 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  officer  *  *  *  to  adopt  suitable  means 
to  prevent  communication  with  them  by  any  persons  other 
than  the  officials  under  his  control,  to  have  said  Chinese  per- 
sons examined  promptly,  as  by  law  provided,  touching  their 
right  to  admission,  and  to  permit  those  proving  such  right 
to  land."  Rules  7,  8,  9,  10,  and  21  are  as  follows: 

T26 


"Rule  7.  The  examination  prescribed  in  Rule  6  should 
be  separate  and  apart  from  the  public,  in  the  presence  of 
government  officials  and  such  witness  or  witnesses  only  as  the 
examining  officer  shall  designate,  and  if,  upon  the  conclusion 
thereof,  the  Chinese  applicant  for  admission  is  adjudged  to 
be  inadmissible,  he  should  be  advised  of  his  right  of  appeal, 
and  his  counsel  should  be  permitted,  after  duly  filing  not  KM 
of  appeal,  to  examine,  but  not  make  copies  of,  the  evidence 
upon  which  the  excluding  decision  is  based. 

"Rule  8.  Every  Chinese  person  refused  admission  under 
the  provisions  of  the  Exclusion  laws  by  the  decision  of  the 
officer  in  charge  at  the  port  of  entry  must,  if  he  shall  elect  to 
take  an  appeal  to  the  Secretary,  give  written  notice  thereof 
to  said  officer  within  two  days  after  such  decision  is  rendered. 

"Rule  9.  Notice  of  appeal  provided  for  in  Rule  8  shall  act 
as  a  stay  upon  the  disposal  of  the  Chinese  person  whose  case 
is  thereby  affected  until  a  final  decision  is  rendered  by  the 
Secretary;  and,  within  three  days  after  the  filing  of  such 
notice,  unless  further  delay  is  required  to  investigate  and 
report  upon  new  evidence,  the  complete  record  of  the  case, 
together  with  such  briefs,  affidavits,  and  statements  as  are 
to  be  considered  in  connection  therewith,  shall  be  forwarded 
to  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigration  by  the  officer  in 
charge  at  the  port  of  arrival,  accompanied  by  his  views  there- 
on in  writing;  but  on  such  appeal  no  evidence  will  be  con- 
sidered that  has  not  been  made  the  subject  of  investigation 
and  report  by  the  said  officer  in  charge, 

"Rule  10.  Additional  time  for  the  preparation  of  cases 
after  the  expiration  of  three  days  next  succeeding  the  filing 
of  notice  of  appeal  will  be  allowed  only  in  those  instances  in 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  said  officer  in  charge,  a  literal 
compliance  with  Rule  9  would  occasion  injustice  to  the  appel- 
lant, or  the  risk  of  defeat  of  the  purposes  of  the  law;  and  the 
reasons  for  delay  beyond  the  time  prescribed  shall,  in  every 
instance,  be  stated  in  writing  in  the  papers  forwarded  to  the 
Commissioner  General  of  Immigration." 

"Rule  21.  The  burden  of  proof  in  all  cases  rests  upon 
Chinese  persons  claiming  the  right  of  admission  to  or  residence 
within  the  United  States  to  establish  such  right  affirmatively 
and  satisfactorily  to  the  appropriate  government  officers,  and 
in  no  case  in  which  the  law  prescribes  the  nature  of  the  evi- 

127 


dence  to  establish  such  right  shall  other  evidence  be  accept*  •«! 
in  lieu  thereof,  and  in  every  doubtful  case  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt  shall  be  given  by  administrative  officers  to  the  United 
States  government." 

After  reading  the  rules  to  which  all  persons  of  Chinest 
origin  or  those  who  are  suspected  of  such  origin  must  submit, 
the  fair-minded  person  must  admit  that  the  following  con- 
demnation of  the  law  by  Mr.  Justice  Brewer  is  mild  ami 
that  his  position  is  well  taken.  Justice  Brewer  says : 

"It  will  be  seen  that  under  these  rules  it  is  the  duty  of  tli« 
immigration  officer  to  prevent  communication  with  the  Chi 
nese  seeking  to  land  by  any  one  except  his  own  officers.  He  i* 
to  conduct  a  private  examination,  with  only  the  witnesses 
present  whom  he  may  designate.  His  counsel,  if,  under  the 
circumstances,  the  Chinaman  has  been  able  to  procure  one. 
is  permitted  to  look  at  the  testimony,  but  not  to  make  a  copy 
of  it.  He  must  give  notice  of  appeal,  if  he  wishes  one,  within 
two  days,  and  within  three  days  thereafter  the  record  is  to  be 
sent  to  the  Secretary  at  Washington;  and  every  doubtful 
question  is  to  be  settled  in  favor  of  the  government.  No 
provision  is  made  for  summoning  witnesses  from  a  distance 
or  for  taking  depositions,  and,  if,  for  instance,  the  person 
landing  in  San  Francisco  was  born  and  brought  up  in  Ohio, 
it  may  well  be  that  he  would  be  powerless  to  find  any  testi- 
mony in  San  Francisco  to  prove  his  citizenship.  If  he  does 
not  happen  to  have  money  he  must  go  without  the  testimony, 
and  when  the  papers  are  sent  to  Washington  (3,000  miles 
away  from  the  port,  which,  in  this  ease,  was  the  place  of  land- 
ing), he  may  not  have  the  means  of  employing  counsel  to 
.present  his  case  to  the  Secretary.  If  this  be  not  a  star- 
chamber  proceeding  of  the  most  stringent  sort,  what  more  is 
necessary  to  make  it  one  ? ' ' 

A  little  examination  of  the  rules  of  admission  as  quoted 
from  Justice  Brewer's  dissenting  opinion  is  instructive  and 
suggestive.  As  regards  the  examination,  "it  must  be  separate 
and  apart  from  the  public  in  the  presence  of  Government 
officials  and  such  witnesses  only  as  the  examining  officer  shall 
designate."  In  the  examination  the  modus  operandi  is  prob- 
ably as  follows:  The  applicant  is  stripped  naked  and  made 
to  submit  to  the  Bertillon  system  of  measurement.  This  is 
the  French  system  used  mostly  in  the  identification  of  crim 

128 


inaivs.  And  no  immigrant  of  any  other  country  is  compelled 
to  submit  to  such  an  indignity.  The  body  of  the  appellant 
is  looked  over  for  birth-marks,  warts,  protuberances  or  other 
nodulous  excrescences.  The  feet  are  closely  examined,  Un- 
ices are  spread  apart  and  scrutinized.  This  is  to  determine  if 
the  applicant  was  in  the  habit  of  going  barefooted  in  his 
native  country.  Going  barefooted  being  presumptive  evidence 
against  the  applicant  belonging  to  the  merchant  class.  In 
case  of  the  female  applicant,  this  examination  shows  if  she 
has  bandaged  and  crippled  feet.  Chinese  ladies  with  cramped 
and  bandaged  feet  are  looked  upon  with  favor  by  the  in- 
spectors. The  fact  shows  that  they  must  have  been  born  in 
the  useless  class  in  their  own  country,  and  consequently  are 
unable  to  compete  in  our  labor  market  with  the  strenuous 
American  girls  of  all  origins. 

The  flesh  on  the  shoulders  of  the  applicant  is  examined  for 
the  muscular  development  that  accompanies  the  severe  exer- 
tion of  basket  carrying.  Carbon  impressions  are  taken  and 
filed  away  with  the  photograps  of  the  applicant.  These  photo- 
graphs are  taken  according  to  a  peculiar  system.  Any  excep- 
tional marks  on  the  person  or  condition  of  the  body  are  noted, 
and  this  evidence  is  placed  in  the  archives  of  the  department 
for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  government. 

This  examination  is  harsh  and  in  many  instances  cruel, 
especially  in  the  case  of  children.  The  Rev.  F.  L.  H.  Pott. 
President  of  St.  John's  College,  Shanghai,  says  in  speaking 
of  the  examination  of  children,  that  "Chinese  lads  of  thirteen 
or  fourteen  years  of  age  find  the  same  difficulty  in  getting 
past  the  Customs  officials  as  grown  men."  This  is  written 
in  June  of  1904.  Mr.  Potts,  by  the  way,  is  married  to  a 
Chinese  lady.  And  there  seems  to  be  no  complaints  made  on 
the  ground  of  non-assimilation  in  his  case.  In  passing  it  may 
be  well  to  observe  that  all  this  talk  of  the  inability  of  the 
Asiatic  to  assimilate  with  the  mixture  known  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  comes  from  the  lower  classes.  From  all  that  we  can 
learn,  the  examination  and  measurements  which  are  pre- 
scribed even  to  the  exempt  classes  of  Chinese  are  harsh  and 
humiliating.  When  we  think  of  these  absurd  measurements 
being  applied  to  delicate  and  refined  Chinese  ladies  we  are 
shocked  and  will  allow  the  reader  to  exercise  his  imagination 
on  the  subject. 

129 


The  reader  will  notice  all  the  time  that  the  burden  of  proof 
rests  upon  the  applicant  for  admission,  with  all  the  hardship 
that  such  a  condition  implies.  It  will  be  well  to  notice  a  few 
of  the  disabilities  that  the  Chinese  merchant  is  subject  to  even 
after  he  has  been  admitted  to  the  sacred  precincts  of  our  free 
American  republic.  A  merchant  even  after  he  has  been  ad- 
mitted as  such,  may  lose  his  status.  In  that  respect  the 
Chinese  laborer  has  the  advantage,  as  he  can  rise  or  fall  to 
the  status  of  gambler  or  highbinder  without  at  all  endangering 
his  right  to  reside  in  the  country. 

A  merchant  cannot  change  his  occupation  to  that  of  a 
restaurant  proprietor  without  losing  his  status  and  right  to 
remain  with  us.  There  seems  to  be  no  exception  to  this  rule 
and  it  would  make  no  difference  if  a  Chinese  merchant  of  San 
Francisco  changed  his  business  for  the  Palace  Hotel  res- 
taurant, a  concern  probably  worth  $50,000, — he  could  not 
stay  in  this  country  as  a  restaurant  proprietor.  A  Chinese 
merchant  loses  his  status  though  he  may  keep  a  restaurant 
and  a  lodging  house.  ' '  A  Chinaman,  the  owner  and  operator 
of  a  laundry,  who  in  addition  was  engaged  in  a  limited 
sense  in  soliciting  orders  for  Chinese  .curios,  which  he  filled 
on  commission,  is  nevertheless  classed  as  a  laundryman  and 
laborer. ' ' 

This  was  decided  in  1892  : 

' '  The  ownership  By  a  Chinaman  of  two  laundries  does  not 
exempt  him  from  classification  as  a  laborer,  and  does  not  en- 
title him  to  re-admission  to  the  United  States  as  a  member  of 
the  exempt  class."  (Letter  to  Attorney  General,  September 
9th,  1893.)  This  case  suggests  the  query  as  to  how  many 
laundries  a  Chinaman  must  own  to  qualify  him  for  admission 
to  this  country  as  a  merchant  or  to  remove  him  from  the 
glass  of  laborers,  gamblers  and  highbinders. 

In  the  matter  of  Chinese  laundry  owners,  the  following  case 
is  instructive:  "A  Chinaman  who  has  conducted  a  laundry, 
but  who  has  since  sold  his  interests  therein  and  who  proposes 
to  open  a  store  for  the  sale  of  teas,  etc.,  would  not  be  regarded 
as  a  person  of  the  exempt  class  should  he  visit  China  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  goods  wherewith  to  start  his  contem- 
plated store.  He  would  not  be  permitted  to  re-enter  the 
United  States  as  a  merchant.  This  was  decided  in  1892." 

From  the  specimen  rules  which  I  have  read  it  appears  that, 

130 


the  Chinese  laundry  business  is  not  favored  by  the  United 
States  authorities  having  charge  of  the  admission  of  Chinese. 
And  in  the  last  instance  the  unfortunate  applicant  could 
not  exchange  the  money  that  he  received  from  the  sale  of  a 
laundry,  even  for  a  cargo  of  tea,  with  any  hope  of  passing  the 
guards.  This  looks  like  a  case  of  tainted  money.  How  long, 
dh,  Lord,  wilt  thou  suffer  us  to  go  on  making  fools  of  our- 
selves ! 

If  a  Chinese  cigar  merchant  should  be  allowed  to  enter  our 
domain  and  set  up  his  business,  and  if  his  trade  became  some- 
what dull,  he  would  lose  caste  with  our  immigration  officials 
if  he  stepped  next  door  to  his  cousin,  the  shoemaker,  and 
made  a  pair  of  shoes  for  him  each  day  for  three  months.  The 
law  is  explicit  on  the  point.  It  says  in  effect,  "Thou  shalt 
not  soil  thy  hands  with  toil  outside  of  the  business  in  which 
thou  art  immediately  engaged  under  pain  of  expulsion  from 
the  limits  of  our  jurisdiction. ' ' 

A  Chinaman  even  of  the  exempt  class  cannot  enter  our 
domain  from  the  mere  fact  that  he  has  a  certificate  from  the 
proper  Chinese  authorities,  and  though  said  certificates  be 
rised  by  a  United  States  Consul  at  the  port  of  embarkation. 
All  this  goes  for  naught.  It  is  but  prima  facie  evidence; 
and  can  be  and  is  frequently  set  aside  by  the  ministerial 
officer  who  may  have  been  appointed  to  his  position  by  politi- 
cal favoritism  and  who  has  no  knowledge  of  judicial  proceed- 
ings or  the  laws  made  for  the  protection  of  the  individual. 

In  obedience  to  the  clamor  of  the  unwashed,  the  loud- 
mouthed and  ignorant,  we  have  placed  laws  on  our  statute 
books,  and  have  made  decisions  defining  and  enforcing  them 
which  are  a  disgrace  to  a  modern  civilized  community.  These 
laws  will  make  our  posterity  ashamed  of  us,  and  cause  them 
to  wonder  and  speculate  as  to  the  kind  of  hallucination  with 
which  we  were  afflicted. 

For  the  purpose  of  showing  the  maladministration  of  just- 
ice growing  out  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  laws,  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  give  some  illustrations.  The  following  item  from 
the  San  Francisco  Examiner  of  June  22,  1905,  is  about  all 
that  has  appeared  in  print  in  relation  to  a  dastardly  outrage 
perpetrated  upon  Mr.  Tom  Kin  Yung,  a  member  of  the 
Chinese  legation  in  this  country: 

This  is 'not  the  first  time  that  serious  charges  have  been 


made  against  Kramer  in  connection  with  the  performance 
of  his  duty.  In  September  of  1903,  Tom  Kin*  Yung,  an 
attache  of  the  Chinese  legation  in  Washington  and  an  officer 
of  the  imperial  guard,  was  clubbed  and  beaten  by  Kramer  and 
another  policeman  in  front  of  the  Chinese  Consulate  in  this 
city.  The  case  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Chinese 
Legation  and  an  international  question  was  raised  concerning 
it.  After  Tom  Kin  Yung  was  taken  to  the  city  prison,  Kramer 
placed  a  disgraceful  charge  against  his  name  and  the  Chinese 
was  so  much  aggrieved  by  the  beating  he  had  received  and  the 
nature  of  the  charge  placed  against  his  name  that  he  com- 
mitted suicide  a  few  days  later. 

Testimony  taken  in  the  matter  by  the  Chinese  Consulate 
was  laid  before  Secretary  of  State  John  Hay.  Mr.  Hay 
transmitted  it  to  Governor  Pardee  and  he  sent  it  on  to  Mayor 
Schmitz,  who  asked  the  Police  Commission  to  investigate. 
That  body  heard  the  testimony  of  the  two  policemen  and 
transmitted  the  result  to  Washington,  but  nothing  further 
was  done. 

The  police  officer.  J.  T.  Kramer,  who  was  concerned  in  the 
above  outrage,  was  removed  by  the  Police  Commissioners  for 
conduct  unbecoming  an  officer,  and  for  the  disgraceful  part 
that  he  took  in  the  arrest  of  two  women.  Remember  that  he 
was  not  removed  from  his  position  in  1903,  for  the  clubbing 
and  beating  of  Mr.  Tom  Kin  Yung. 

As  the  Examiner  states,  the  Washington  authorities  were 
communicated  with,  but  nothing  further  was  done.  Does  any 
one  believe  that  this  outrage  could  have  been  perpetrated 
upon  the  person  of  any  member  of  the  diplomatic  body  of 
and  other  country  with  whom  we  have  treaty  relations? 

The  answer  is  self-evident.  We  abuse  the  citizens  of  China 
who  are  sojourning  with  us.  because  we  feel  that  we  can  do 
so  with  impunity.  What  force  is  there  in  the  sentiments  of 
"Your  good  friend"  John  Tyler's  letter,  which  was  sent  to  the 
Ta  Tsing  Empire  sixty-two  years  ago.  This  letter  was  a 
request  for  a  treaty  and  more  extended  trade  relations  with 
China.  Our  request  was  granted.  What  have  we  Driven  in 
return  ? 

When  the  Chinese  immigration  laws  were  framed  for  this 
country  Celestial  aristocrats  were  not  taken  into  consideration, 
hence  it  came  about  that  four  of  the  best  educated,  wealthiest 

132 


and  most  refined  persons  residing  within  the  Great  Wall  of 
the  Flowery  Kingdom  were  detained  last  night  on  the  steam- 
ship Ivernia  and,  in  spite  of  their  social  importance  at  home, 
were  treated  precisely  as  so  many  coolies. 

One  of  the  party  was  a  woman,  Miss  T.  King,  who  with  her 
brothers,  K.  T.  King,  Z.  D.  King  and  S.  D.  King,  have  been 
in  England  three  years,  taking  courses  at  Kings  College. 
University  of  London.  They  were  on  their  way  home,  and 
instead  of  going  by  way  of  the  Portland  and  Ontario  line 
decided  to  visit  Boston,  cross  the  continent  and  embark  for 
China  at  San  Francisco.  They  wish  to-day  that  they  had  gone 
by  the  other  route. 

The  uncle  of  these  four  students  is  Zu  Shun  Yuan,  governor 
of  the  province  of  Shanghai,  which  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant posts  in  the  Chinese  empire. 

The  Boston  immigration  officials  were  in  no  way  responsible 
for  the  humiliation  which  the  four  distinguished  visitors  were 
gompelled  to  undergo  last  night.  The  trouble  was  partly  due 
to  the  Chinese  immigration  law  and  partly  to  the  visitors' 
failure  to  take  advantage  of  such  loopholes  as  the  law  permits. 

Had  they  taken  the  trouble  to  secure  a  bond  of  $500  each 
and  to  furnish  photographs  to  the  immigration  officials,  they 
would  have  been  allowed  to  land  without  detention,  as  a  matter 
of  course.  As  it  was,  they  were  compelled  to  submit  to  being 
photographed  and  to  wait  until  such  time  as  the  bonds  were 
executed.  Consequently  they  spent  the  night  on  the  Ivernia, 
instead  of  at  a  fashionable  Back  Bay  hotel,  as  they  had 
planned  to  do. 

Miss  King  is  described  as  a  charming  Chinese  lady,  petite 
and  pretty.  Last  Tuesday,  at  a  concert  on  the  Ivernia,  she 
played  a  solo  on  the  Chinese  flute  and  won  great  applause. 
All  of  the  party  speak  English  fluently.  In  England  they 
were  introduced  to  Embassador  Choate,  who  gave  them  letters 
to  friends  in  this  country. 

Passengers  on  the  Ivernia  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of 
their  Chinese  shipmates.  "Their  table  manners  were  above 
rep  roach, "  said  every  one,  "and  their  bearing  toward  every- 
body on  the  ship  was  admirable."  K.  T.  King  appeared  to 
resent  deeply  the  humiliations  to  which  the  laws  of  this 
country  subjected  himself  and  family. 

He  said: 

T33 


"In  many  cities  of  China  the  middle  class  of  Chinamen 
are  boycotting  American  goods,  buying  English  or  European 
products  instead,  because  of  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
treated  in  this  country,"  he  said,  "and  the  trade  and  com- 
merce of  this  country  in  China  is  seriously  affected  as  the 
result.  The  reason  why  students  from  our  country  go  to 
England  is  because  they  are  placed  under  such  restrictions 
here.  I  can  understand  why  legislation  against  coolies  might 
be  passed,  but  I  do  not  see  why  respectable  Chinamen  are  not 
welcomed. ' ' 

The  foregoing  case  was  published  in  the  Boston  Traveler, 
June,  2,  1905,  and  it  displays  a  similar  flagrant  abuse  of 
authority.  Here  was  a  whole  family  of  refined,  educated, 
and  wealthy  people— showing  all  the  evidences  of  wealth. 
They  were  held  up  by  the  stupid  authorities,  who  presumed 
that  the  travelers  might  at  some  time  during  their  stay  here 
be  compelled  to  compete  with  some  of  Mr.  Gompers'  clientele. 

In  this  case  the  good  people  of  Boston  hastened  to  remedy 
the  folly  of  the  officials. 

Enough  space  has  been  given  to  the  sentiments  of  those  who. 
as  George  says,  "go  on  prating  of  the  inalienable  rights  of 
man  and  then  denying  the  inalienable  right  to  the  bounty  of 
the  Creator. " 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNBIASED  PARTIES. 


We  must  now  give  some  testimony  from  those  who  use 
Liberty  to  conjure  with,  not  to  vex  the  ear  in  empty  boastings. 
For  liberty  means  justice,  and  justice  is  the  natural  law— the 
law  of  health  of  symmetry  and  strength,  of  fraternity  and 
cooperation.  So  to  promote  justice  and  the  law  of  equal 
liberty  among  human  beings  we  will  introduce  some  testimony 
from  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "The  other  side  of  the  Chinese 
question."  This  pamphlet  was  prepared  by  F.  A.  Bee  and 
the  matter  was  largely  taken  from  the  report  of  the  Congres- 
sional Commitee,  who  were  sent  to  this  Coast  to  investigate 
the  labor  conditions  here.  The  first  witness  I  shall  introduce 
will  be  Judge  Heydenfeldt,  a  pioneer  jurist  of  California, 
and  the  judge  who  had  the  doubtful  honor  of  uniting  with 
Judge  Murray  in  declaring  the  law  in  the  case  of  the  People 
vs.  Hall,  in  1854. 

SOLOMON  HEYDENFELDT  sworn  and  examined. 

4 '  By  Mr.  BEE  :  Question.  How  long  have  you  resided  in 
California?— Answer.  Nearly  twenty-seven  years. 

' '  Q.  Were  you  at  one  time  Associate  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  this  State?— A.  Yes,  sir. 

"  Q.  How  many  years  did  you  keep  that  position?— A. 
Five  years. 

"  Q.  You  were  conversant  with  the  various  institutions  of 
California,  mining  manufacturing  and  farming?— A.  Toler- 
ably, sir ;  practically  from  observation,  etc. 

"  Q.  And  with  the  Chinese  question,  and  legislation  in 
reference  to  it?— A.  I  have  been  an  observer  of  what  has 
been  going  on  for  the  last  twenty-seven  years. 

"  Q.  The  committee  are  here  to  get  information.  I  should 
like  to  have  you  detail  your  information  as  to  the  facts,  if 
any,  since  the  Chinese  advent  to  California?— A.  I  think 
California  owes  its  prosperity  very  much  indeed  to  the  in- 
dustry of  the  Chinese  who  have  come  to  this  country.  I  think 

135 


without  them  we  would  not  have  our  harbor  filled  with  ships ; 
we  would  not  have  had  railroads  crossing  our  mountains,  and 
we  would  have  been  behind,  probably,  a  great  number  of 
years.  I  think  we  would  not  have  had  as  many  white  people 
here  if  the  Chinese  had  not  come. 

"  Q.  You  think,  then,  that' the  Chinese  who  are  among  us 
have  conduced  to  bring  white  people  here  and  give  white 
people  homes  and  employment.— A.  I  do. 

"  Q.  As  to  the  construction  of  this  new  railroad,  the  South- 
ern Pacific,  which  is  some  400  miles  in  length,  would  that  have 
been  built  but  for  the  Chinese,  in  your  opinion?— A.  I  think 
not;  and  I  have  been  assured  so  "by  those  who  are  interested 
in  completing  it. 

1 '  Q.  It  has  opened  a  vast  territroy  of  farming  land  to  the 
immigration  of  this  State?— A.  It  has. 

11  Q.  Do  you  think  that  the  benefits  of  the  Chinese  among 
us  have  been  widespread?— A.  I  do. 

"  Q.  How  does  the  intellectual  ability  of  the  Chinaman,  so 
far  as  your  observation  enables  you  to  judge,  compare  with 
that  of  Americans  in  the  same  corresponding  class?— A  T 
think  their  general  intelligence  is  greater.  My  impression  is, 
from  my  information  and  observation,  that  there  are  very  few 
Chinamen  of  the  ordinary  laboring  class  who  cannot  read  and 
write  their  own  language.  In  my  intercourse  with  them  I  find 
them  always  quick  to  understand  and  very  quick  to  appre- 
ciate. They  exhibit  also  a  ready  intelligence,  much  more  so 
than  you  will  generally  find  among  the  ordinary  laboring  class 
of  whites. 

CORNELIUS  B.  S.  GIBBS,  sworn  and  examined. 

' '  By  Mr.  BEE  :  Question.  How  long  have  you  been  a  resi- 
dent of  this  State  ?— A.  Over  twenty-eight  years. 

"  Q.  What  is  your  profession?— A.  An  adjuster  of  ma- 
rine losses. 

"  Q.  Does  your  profession  bring  you  in  contact  with  the 
Chinese  merchants  of  this  city  and  State?— A.  Yes,  sir. 

"  Q.  Tell  the  committee  what  your  experience  has  been  with 
them  as  men  of  business  and  men  of  integrity. — A.  As  men 
of  business,  I  consider  that  the  Chinese  merchants  are  fully 
equal  to  our  merchants.  As  men  of  integrity,  I  have  never 
met  a  more  honorable,  high-minded,  correct  and  truthful  set 


of  men  than  the  Chinese  merchants  of  our  citv  I  am  drawn 
in  contact  with  people  from  all  nations,  all  the  merchants  <.l 
our  city,  in  our  adjustments.  I  have  never  had  a  case  where 
the  Chinese  have  attempted  to  undervalue  their  poods  or  bring 
fictitious  claims  into  the  adjustments. 

11  Q.  How  do  the  white  merchants  compare  with  the  Chi- 
nese?—A.  As  a  class,  I  think  the  Chinese  are  more  honorable 
than  other  nationalities,  even  our  own. 

"HERMAN  HEYNEMAN,  sworn  and  examined. 

"By  Mr.  BROOKS:  Question.  What  is  your  business?— As- 
swer.  A  merchant. 

"  Q.  How  long  have  you  been  engaged  in  that  business 
here?— A.  Fifteen  years. 

"  Q.  What  is  the  character  of  your  business?— A.  I  am 
engaged  in  importing  goods,  also  in  manufacturing. 

"  Q.  What  sort  of  manufacturing?— A.  I  am  President 
of  the  Pioneer  Woolen  Factory  and  agent  of  the  Pacific  Jute 
Factory. 

"  Q.  Why  do  you  employ  Chinese  in  your  factory?— A. 
Originally  we  could  not  get  any  others  at  all.  At  that  time  it 
would  have  been  an  absolute  impossibility  to  have  run  the  fac- 
tory upon  white  labor,  simply  because  we  could  not  get  white 
operatives. 

"  Q.  Would  the  factory  have  been  started  with  white 
labor?— A.  No,  sir.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  even  with  Chinese 
labor,  competition  has  been  so  active  that  we  have  had  no  divi- 
dends whatever. 

"  By  the  CHAIPMAN:  Question.  What  is  their  character 
for  industry  and  fidelity?— Answer.  I  have  found  in  our  fac- 
tory during  the  lart  fifteen  years  that  we  have  not  had  a  single 
case  before  the  P<  lice  Court.  All  these  Chinese  laborers  live 
on  the  premises.  They  have  a  building  there;  and  we  have 
not  a  single  case  of.  any  kind  before  the  Police  Court  of  murder 
or  rows  among  themselves,  or  theft  upon  the  proprietors.  I 
think  that  speaks  well  for  them.  I  think  there  are  few  fac- 
torirs  run  entirely  by  white  labor,  where  the  laborers  live  on 
the  premises,  thai  could  say  that  much. 

'  By  the  CHAIRMAN:  Question.  What  is  the  cause,  in 
your  judgment,  of  the  hostility  to  the  Chinese?— Answer. 
The  same  cause  that  has  been  prevalent  all  over  the  earth  — 

'37 


strangeness  of  manners.  It  used  to  be  in  England  that  any 
man  who  did  not  speak  English  was  a  'bloody  foreigner.'  It 
did  not  make  any  difference  whether  he  was  the  best  man  in 
the  world,  he  was  a  'bloody  foreigner,'  and  it  was  the  height 
of  contempt  to  use  that  expression.  I  am  just  of  the  opinion 
of  Mr.  Wheeler:  If  this  race,  instead  of  keeping  themselves 
in  their  peculiar  dress,  were  to  drink  whisky  and  patronize 
the  barrooms  to-day,  just  like  others  do,  the  prejudice  would 
disappear  immediately. ' ' 

"  DAVID  D.  COLTON  sworn  and  examined. 

"By  Mr.  •  BEE:  Question.  You  are  connected  with  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad,  I  belive?— Answer.  Yes,  I  am. 

"  Q.  Are  you  the  Vice-President  or  President  of  the  Com- 
pany?—A.  At  this  time  I  am  the  Vice-President. 

"  By  the  CHAIRMAN:  Question.  I  understand  it.  My 
question  is,  what  is  the  origin  or  the  cause  of  the  opposition  to 
Chinamen,  the  hostility  that  evidently  prevails  among  a  great 
many  of  your  people?— Answer.  I  have  asked  myself  that 
question  a  good  many  times  when  I  have  been  down  at  the 
steamer;  and  when  these  inoffensive  people  in  the  legi- 
timate pursuit  of  their  business,  were  going  up  from  the  steam- 
er to  their  lodging-houses,  I  have  seen  twenty  or  thirty  of 
what  are  termed  hoodlums  here  throwing  rocks  at  them.  I 
have  seen  quiet,  peaceful  Chinamen  going  through  the  street, 
when  grown  men  would  hit  them  in  the  face,  knock  off  their 
hats,  and  do  all  these  things  which,  if  done  to  an  American  in 
China,  the  whole  American  nation  would  be  in  favor  of  a  war ; 
they  would  be  in  favor  of  wiping  China  from  the  face  of  the 
earth 

"  Q.  If  Americans  in  China  were  treated  the  same  way?— 
A.  Yes,  sir.  It  is  a  painful  statement  for  an  American  to 
make,  under  our  form  of  government,  but  I  think  there  is  no- 
body in  this  room,  who  has  lived  here  in  the  city,  who  will 
differ  from  me  on  that  subject. 

' '  Q.  How  do  the  Chinese  compare,  in  point  of  intellectual 
ability,  capacity  to  understand,  with  Americans ;  do  you  notice 
any  difference?— A.  I  look  upon  the  American  race  as  a  very 
superior  race.  I  would  also  rather  undertake  to  get  along: 
with  an  American,  probably,  than  with  a  Chinaman;  but  the 
Chinese  are  very  apt,  they  learn  quickly,  they  comprehend  M 

138 


thing,  and  they  never  drink.  I  never  saw  ;i  drunken  China- 
man in  my  life.  They  are  always  at  themselves ;  they  do  not 
have  any  sprees.  I  have  heard  of  this  smoking  of  opium,  but, 
3ut  of  three  or  four  thousand  on  the  road,  there  are  no  opium 
smokers.  There  is  no  trouble  with  them ;  they  are  always  on 
hand  in  the  morning;  they  do  a  full  day's  work;  and  they  are 
certainly  the  most  cleanly  laborers  that  we  have." 

"CHARLES  CROCKER  sworn  and  examined. 

"  By  Mr.  BEE  :  Question.  How  long  have  you  been  in  this 
State?— A.  I  have  been  here  twenty-six  years. 

"  Q.  What  has  been  your  business?— A.  For  the  last  fif- 
teen or  sixteen  years  I  have  been  building  railroads. 

"  Q.  You  have  been  acquainted  with  the  operations  of  the 
Chinese  since  their  first  arrival  here?— A.  Yes,  sir. 

"  Q.  State  what,  in  your  judgment,  is  their  effect  upon 
white  labor,  whether  they  have  the  effect  to  deprive  white 
men  of  employment,  or  have  had  that  effect  at  any  time.— A. 
I  think  that  they  afford  white  men  labor.  I  think  that  their 
presence  here  affords  to  white  men  a  more  elevated  class  of 
labor.  As  I  said  before,  if  you  should  drive  these  75,000  Chi- 
namen off,  you  would  take  75,000  white  men  from  an  elevated 
3lass  of  work  and  put  them  down  to  doing  this  low  class  of 
labor  that  the  Chinamen  are  now  doing,  and,  instead  of  elevat- 
ing, you  would  degrade  white  labor  to  that  extent.  For  any 
man  to  ride  through  California,  from  one  end  of  this  State  to 
the  other,  and  see  the  miles  upon  miles  of  uncultivated  land, 
and  in  the  mountains  millions  of  acres  of  timber,  and  the  foot- 
hills waiting  for  some  one  to  go  and^  cultivate  them,  and  then 
talk  about  there  being  too  much  labor  here  in  the  country,  is 
simply  nonsense,  in  my  estimation.  There  is  labor  for  all, 
and  the  fact  that  the  Chinamen  are  here  gives  an  opportunity 
to  white  men  to  go  in  and  cultivate  this  land,  when  they  could 
not  cultivate  it  otherwise. 

* '  Q.     You  think,  then,  that  there  is  no  conflict  between  the 
interest  of  the  white  and  the  Chinese  laborer?— A.     No,  sir. 
Dr.  STOUT,  Member  of  the  State  Board  of  Health. 

"  By  the  CHAIRMAN:  Q.  How  does  the  squalor  and  filth 
of  the  Chinese  quarter  compare  with  other  parts  of  the  city, 
ar  in  other  words,  is  the  filth  and  squalor  of  the  Chinese  quar- 
ter greater  than  that  of  some  other  parts  of  the  city? — A. 
The  squalor  of  the  Chinese  quarter  is  not  much  greater  than 

139 


that  which  exists  in  other  parts  of  this  city  from  other  people. 
Of  course  their  quarter  is  disagreeable,  because  it  is  perhaps 
more  densely  populated,  but  there  is  less  care  taken  of  it 
If  ample  care  were  taken  by  the  city  authorities  toward  the 
drainage  and  the  cleaning,  I  do  not  think  they  would  be  so 
much  inferior  to  the  squalor,  for  instance,  such  as  I  saw 
nearly  at  the  summit  of  Telegraph  Hill,  a  day  or  two  ago. 
I  was  called  to  see  a  sick  child  up  there,  and  the  filth  and 
stench  from  want  of  cleanliness  was  terrible.  I  can  take  you 
down  to  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  below  Montgomery  street, 
and  show  you  much  more  squalor  in  the  form  of  neglect,  want 
of  drainage,  and  want  of  proper  care,  than  you  would  find  in 
the  Chinese  quarter.  There  has  been  a  great  exaggeration  in 
all  those  charges  against  the  Chinese. 

"  Q.  What  is  the  care  bestowed  upon  the  Chinese  quarter 
by  the  city  authorities?  Is  that  treated  as  carefully  and  as 
fully  as  other  parts  of  the  city  ?— A.  I  have  been  under  the 
impression  for  a  long  time  that  it  was,  but  I  have  since  been 
informed  that  most  of  the  garbage  carts  and  the  sweeping  of 
the  streets  is  done  at  the  expense  of  the  Chinese,  and  not  at 
the  expense  of  the  city ;  that  they  are  left  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves. ' ' 

While  Jmndreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  have  been  expended 
to  clean  the  streets  of  this  city,  not  one  dollar  has  been  ex- 
pended by  the  Board  of  Supervisors  to  clean  the  streets  in  the 
Chinese  quarters  for  ten  years  past.  Yet  the  whole  district 
is  swept  every  morning  by  Italians,  the  garbage  carted  away, 
at  an  expense  to  the  Chinese  residents  of  over  $5000  a  year. 
The  streets  are  kept  as  clean  as  any  other  business  portion  of 
the  city,  the  Supervisors'  book  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing. 

The  Congressional  Committee  was  in  session  investigating 
the  Chinese  question  for  seven  weeks.  Senator  Morton,  as 
Chairman,  in  his  report,  before  quoted,  says: 

SENATOR  MORTON'S  REPORT. 

"  The  most  of  the  Chinese  were  laboring  men,  who  came 
from  the  rural  districts  in  China  and  were  accustomed  to 
agricultural  pursuits.  A  few  of  them  were  scholars  in  their 
awn  country.  Some  of  them  were  merchants,  and  a  very  few 
mechanics.  As  a  rule,  they  are  industrious,  temperate  and 

140 


honest  in  their  dealings.  Some  thousands  of  them  are  em- 
ployed as  household  servants  in  the  cities  and  in  the  country, 
in  this  capacity  tho  testimony  generally  concurs  in  giving 
them  a  high  character.  They  very  readily  learn  to  perform 
all  kinds  of  household  duty,  are  devoted  to  their  employment, 
and  soon  become  exceedingly  skillful.  The  testimony  proved 
that  they  went  to  all  parts  of  the  State  to  serve  in  that 
capacity,  when  other  servants  or  help  of  that  kind  could  not 
be  obtained  from  the  cities,  and  that  if  they  were  banished  it 
vrould  be  very  hard,— in  fact,  as  many  of  the  witnesses  said, 
impossible, — to  supply  their  places. 

"  As  laborers  upon  the  farms  and  in  the  gardens  and  vine- 
yards, nearly  all  of  the  witnesses  speak  of  them  in  the  highest 
terms.  Colonel  Hollister,  one  of  the  largest  farmers  in  Cali- 
fornia, and  a  man  of  great  intelligence,  testified  that  without 
the  Chinese  the  wheat  and  other  crops  in  California  could  not 
be  harvested  and  taken  to  market,  that  white  labor  could  not 
be  obtained  for  prices  that  would  enable  the  former  to  carry 
on  his  business,  that  any  considerable  increase  in  the  price 
of  labor,  would  render  the  production  of  wheat  and  almost 
every  other  agricultural  product  unprofitable,  and  they  would 
have  to  be  abandoned. 

11  In  the  construction  of  railroads  and  other  public  works 
of  California,  the  Chinese  have  been  of  the  greatest  service 
and  have  performed  the  largest  part  of  the  labor.  Several 
distinguished  gentlemen  connected  with  the  railroads  testified 
that  without  Chinese  labor  they  could  not  have  been  con- 
structed, and  that  if  the  companies  had  been  compelled  to 
rely  upon  white  labor,  it  would  have  been  so  difficult  to  pro- 
cure and  so  costly  that  the  works  must  have  been  abandoned 
and,  in  fact,  would  not  have  been  undertaken.  As  laborers 
upon  the  public  works  they  were  entirely  reliable,  worked 
more  hours  than  white  men,  were  not  given  to  strikes,  and 
never  undertook,  by  combinations,  to  control  the  price  of 
labor. 

"  The  chief  point  against  the  Chinese,  and  that  which  was 
put  forth  as  the  ground  of  movements  against  them,  was  that 
they  worked  for  less  wages  than  the  white  people,  and  thus 
put  their  labor,  or  compelled  them  to  work  for  wages  upon 
which  they  could  not  subsist  their  families  and  educate  their 
children.  That  Chinamen  worked  for  lower  wages  and  per- 

141 


formed  the  same  amount  of  labor  for  less  money  than  the 
white  people,  is  unquestionably  true.  They  have  largely  per- 
formed the  hardest  and  lowest  kind  of  labor  in  the  State,  such 
as  the  construction  of  railroads,  reclaiming  the  tule  lands, 
and  every  form  of  drudgery  and  unskilled  labor ;  but  that  they 
have  injuriously  interfered  with  the  white  people  of  Cali- 
fornia, or  have  done  them  a  serious  injury  may  well  be 
doubted.  The  great  fact  is,  that  there  is  to-day,  and  always 
has  been,  a  scarcity  of  labor  upon  the  Pacific  Coast,  there  is 
work  for  all  who  are  there,  both  white  and  Mongolian  and  the 
State  would  undoubtedly  develop  much  more  rapidly  with 
their  more  and  cheaper  labor.  There  was  much  intelligent 
testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  Chinese,  by  their  labor,  opened 
up  large  avenues  and  demand  for  white  labor.  The  Chinese 
performed  the  lowest  kind,  while  the  whites  monopolized  that 
of  a  superior  character.  This  was  well  stated  by  Mr.  Crocker, 
a  very  intelligent  witness,  largely  interested  in  the  Central 
Pacific  and  Southern  California  railroads,  in  answer  to  a 
question  as  to  what  was  the  effect  of  Chinese  upon  white  labor, 
and  whether  it  was  to  deprive  white  men  of  employment,  or 
had  had  that  effect  at  any  time. 

"It  is  said  that  the  presence  of  the  Chinese  in  California 
prevents  the  immigration  thither  of  white  people,  and,  there- 
fore, stands  in  the  way  of  the  growth  of  the  State.  If  such  is 
the  fact  (which  I  do  not  admit),  it  springs  from  the  persecu- 
tion visited  upon  the  Chinamen,  and  the  exaggerated  decla- 
rations which  have  been  made  in  excuse  for  them. 

11  That  the  Chinese  interfere  with  white  labor  and  leave 
white  people  out  of  work,  or  reduce  their  wages  by  competi 
tion  below  the  living  point.  If  white  people  are  deterred  from 
going  to  California,  it  is  not  a  legitamate  result  of  the  presence 
of  the  Chinese,  but  by  the  gross  misrepresentations  which  have 
been  made.  Looking  at  the  question  broadly,  and  at  the 
effect  which  Chinese  labor  has  exerted  in  California,  running 
through  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  I  am  strongly  of  the 
opinion  that,  but  for  the  presence  of  the  Chinese,  California 
would  not  now  have  more  than  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  her 
present  white  population;  that  Chinee  labor  has  opened  up 
many  avenues  and  new  industries  for  white  labor,  made  many 
kinds  of  business  possible,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  manu- 
facturing interests  that  bid  fair  to  rise  to  enormous  prop  or- 

142 


tions;  that  the  presence  of  the  Chinese,  holding  out  the  pros 
pect  for  labor  at  reasonable  rates,  induced  the  transfer  of 
large  amounts  of  capital  and  immigration  to  California,  and 
of  large  numbers  of  business  and  enterprising  men,  thus 
making  California  the  field  for  immigrants  from  every  class 
of  society,  including  laboring  men ;  and,  lastly,  that  the  labor- 
ing men  of  California  have  ample  employment,  and  are  better 
paid  than  in  almost  any  other  part  of  the  country.  *  *  * 
While  there  was  complaint  that  the  Chinese,  by  their  cheap 
labor,  took  it  from  white  people,  inquiry  failed  to  show  that 
there  was  any  considerable  number  of  white  people  in  Cali- 
fornia out  of  employment,  except  those  who  were  wilfully 
idle." 

Such  v  ere  the  conclusions  reached  by  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished statesmen  of  the  country.  What  was  true  then,  is 
true  now,  concerning  these  persecuted  people. 

Recent  events  that  are  transpiring  here  prove  that  it  is 
as  true  today  as  it  was  then.  As  illustrations  of  how  the 
Chinese  compelled  the  white  labor  to  walk  the  streets  of  this 
city  in  idleness,  I  cite  the  following  circumstances : 

The  following  paragraphs  in  relation  to  the  woes  of  the 
white  cigar-makers  should  be  read  in  connection  with  the 
statistics  of  the  cigar  industry  in  San  Francisco,  which  will 
be  found  in  this  statement. 

"  The  sufferings  of  white  cigar-makers  was  most  pathetic- 
ally proclaimed  by  the  press  of  this  city  for  months.  It  was 
said  that  this  class  were  driven  to  poverty  and  want  by  the 
Chinese  cigar-makers.  It  was  indeed  enough  to  enlist  the 
good  office,  if  true,  of  every  philanthropist.  The  white  firms 
engaged  in  the  business  finally  agreed  to  give  work  to  these 
suffering  people,  and  discharge  their  Chinese.  It  was  at  once 
discovered  that  there  were  no  idle  cigar-makers  here  and  the 
result  was  two  agents  were  sent  east  who  returned  a  few 
weeks  since  with  200.  More  are  to  follow.  It  is  charged  also 
that  our  boys  and  girls  are  growing  up  in  idleness  and  de- 
prived of  learning  any  trade  by  Chinese  competition.  Last 
week  there  arrived  here  overland  thirty  girls  to  take  the  place 
of  Chinese  employed  in  a  jute  factory.  The  press  this  week 
informed  us  that  the  noted  millionaire  viticulturist  of  Los 
Angeles  County,  E.  J.  Baldwin,  Esq.,  having  succumbed  to 
the  Chinese  agitators,  had  sent  an  agent  to  the  Southern  States 

'43 


to  obtain  seventy-five  negroes,  to  take  the  place  of  Chinese  on 
his  ranch.  The  citizens  of  the  beautiful  city  of  the  sea,  Santa 
Barbara,  in  order  to  test  the  matter  that  there  was  much  suf- 
fering for  want  of  employment  by  poor  families,  built  a  steam 
laundry,  withdrew  their  patronage  from  the  Chinese,  run  the 
new  enterprise  for  seven  days,  then  closed  the  concern,  post- 
ing a  notice,  *  Closed  for  want  of  operatives.'  The  foregoing 
incidents  could  be  quoted  at  great  length,  but  this  much  is 
given  as  specimen  events  transpiring  within  the  last  sixty 
days.  It  has  become  a  necessity  to  these  Chinese  agitators 
to  prevent  the  people  of  the  East  from  knowing  how  Chinese 
are  outraged  and  persecuted.  It  is  claimed  that  they  are  not 
educated  up  to  a  degree  that  they  can  grasp  the  situation, 
and,  '  do  not,  as  a  rule,  understand  the  question. '  Hence  this 
persecution  that  is  daily  heralded  by  the  press,  wherein  th£ 
Chinese  are  driven  from  'pillar  to  post'  must  cease,  until  Con- 
gress can  act.  In  other  words,  stop  this  persecution  long 
enough  to  take  another  turn  at  the  screws. ' ' 

HARDSHIP  ENDURED  BY  THE  EXEMPT  CLASS. 

Article  IV.  of  the  Angel  treaty  says:  "If  the  measures 
(laws)  as  enacted  are  found  to  work  hardships  upon  the 
subjects  of  China,  the  Chinese  minister  at  Washington  may 
bring  the  matter  to  the  notice  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
United  States." 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  difficulties  and  restrictions  that 
surround  the  exempt  class,  from  re-entering  this  port,  are 
immeasureably  beyond  that  required  of  the  restricted  laborer. 
There  is  not  the  slightest  reference  in  the  two  Acts,  nor  in  the 
bill  now  before  Congress,  in  any  manner,  relating  to  resident 
Chinese  merchants.  Article  II.  says  they  shall ' '  be  allowed  to 
go  and  come  of  their  own  free  will  and  accord. ' '  The  writer 
has  caused  over  two  hundred  writs  of  habeas  corpus  to  be 
taken  out  before  the  United  States  Courts  to  enable  well  known 
merchants  to  re-enter  this  country.  Many  had  branch  mercan- 
tile houses  in  Honolulu,  Panama,  Mexico,  and  Victoria,  British 
Columbia,  that  at  stated  periods  needed  their  presence;  resi- 
dents here,  many  of  them,  for  thirty  years,— yet,  after  days 
of  detention  on  board  are  compelled  to  appeal  to  the  Courts. 
Ninety  per  cent  of  the  cases  had  consular  certificates,  issued 

144 


by  the  Chinese  Consulate  at  this  port,  identifying  the  holder 
as  a  resident  merchant.  When  one  of  this  class  desired  to 
visit  a  foreign  port,  on  making  application  to  the  Collector  of 
the  Port,  he  was  informed  that  he  must  go  to  the  Consulate  for 
a  certificate.  Upon  his  return  he  is  told  that  he  cannot  land, 
because  there  is  nothing  in  the  law  relating  to  such  a  certifi- 
cate. This  persecution  is  in  full  blast  to-day,  every  Chinese 
merchant  that  comes  to  this  port  is  compelled  to  sue  out  a 
writ;  the  cost  in  each  case  will  average  one  hundred  dollars. 

The  United  States  judges  before  whom  these  writs  are 
brought  plainly  denounce  the  action  of  these  officials.  Mr. 
Justice  Field,  in  his  opinion,  in  the  case  of  Low  Yam  Chow, 
a  Chinese  merchant,  after  citing  U.  S.  v.  Kirby,  7th  Wall.. 
481,  and  quoting  from  Carlisle  v.  U.  S.,  16th  Wall.,  153,  said: 
4 'These  cases  would  be  sufficient  to  justify  us  in  giving  a 
construction  to  the  Act  under  consideration  in  harmony  with 
the  supplementary  treaty,  even  were  the  general  terms  used 
susceptible  of  a  larger  meaning.  Its  purpose  will  be  held  to 
be;  what  the  treaty  authorized  to  put  a  restriction  upon  the 
emigration  of  laborers,  including  those  skilled  in  any  trade  or 
art,  and  not  to  interefere  by  excluding  Chinese  merchants  or 
putting  unnecessary  and  embarrassing  restrictions  upon  their 
coming  with  the  commercial  relations  between  China  and  this 
sountry.  Commerce  with  China  is  of  the  greatest  value,  and 
is  constantly  increasing,  and  it  should  require  something 
stronger  than  vague  inferences  to  justify  a  construction  which 
would  not  be  in  harmony  with  that  treaty  and  which  would 
tend  to  lessen  that  commerce.  It  would  seem,  however,  from 
reports  of  the  action  of  certain  officers  of  the  Government, 
possessed  of  more  zeal  than  knowledge,  that  it  is  their  purpose 
to  bring  this  about,  and  thus  make  the  act  as  odious  as  pos- 
sible." 

HONORABLE  OGDEN  HOFFMAN,  United  States  District  Court, 
in  a  similar  case  says : 

"Nothing  would  more  gratify  the  enemies  of  the  bill  than 
that  in  its  practical  operation  it  should  be  found  to  be  un- 
reasonable, unjust  and  oppressive.  If  Chinese  merchants 
coming  here  from  all  parts  of  the  world  are  excluded  because 
they  fail  to  produce  a  certificate  impossible  for  them  to  obtain ; 
if  a  merchant  long  resident  here  and  on  his  way  to  New  York 
by  a  route  which  for  a  short  distance  passes  through  Canada 

'45 


is  to  be  stopped  at  Niagara  bridge  for  want  of  a  certificate  am! 
nn  retracing  his  steps  is  to  be  stopped  at  Detroit  on  a  similar 
pretext,  and  on  the  ground  that  in  each  case  he  is  to  be 
regarded  as  coming  to  the  United  States  from  a  foreign  coun- 
try within  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  law;  if  a  Chi- 
nese merchant  similarly  resident  in  this  city  and  desirous  of 
temporarily  visiting  British  Columbia  or  Mexico  is  to  be 
refused,  as  it  seems  he  must  be,  a  certificate  by  the  Custom 
House  authorities  under  section  4  on  the  ground  that  he  is 
not  a  laborer  and  on  his  return  after  a  few  weeks  absence, 
is  to  be  prohibited  from  landing  on  the  ground  that  he  has  no 
certificate  of  identification  issued  by  the  Chinese  Government 
under  section  6 ;  if,  in  these  and  in  similar  cases,  the  operation 
of  law  is  found  to  work  manifest  injustice,  oppression  and 
absurdity,  its  repeal  cannot  long  be  averted. 

"I  am  satisfied  that  the  friends  of  this  law  do  it  the  best 
service  by  giving  to  it  a  reasonable  and  just  construction, 
conformable  to  its  spirit  and  intent  and  the  solemn  pledges 
3f  the  treaty,  and  not  one  calculated  to  bring  it  into  odium 
and  disrepute." 

Such  in  brief  are  a  tithe  of  the  "hardships"  that  surround 
the  exempt  class,  who,  by  solemn  treaty  obligations,  are  to  go 
and  come  freely,  without  let  or  hindrance.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
they  are  the  prohibited  class. 

CHINESE    CHEAP  '  LABOR. 

Is  a  delusion  and  a  cheat,  when  applied  to  the  Chinese  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  The  average  wages  of  the  Chinese  farm  hand 
is  $25  per  month.  On  the  railroad  it  is  $26  to  $30.  As  domes- 
tic servants,  their  pay  is  above  the  Caucasian.  The  average 
price  paid  Chinese  cooks  in  this  city  is  $27.50  per  month. 
House  servants  and  waiters,  $22.50  per  month,  with  board. 
Pierce  workers  in  the  factories,  such  as  cigars,  boots,  shoes 
and  underwear,  are  better  paid  than  the  same  class  in  the 
Eastern  States.  That  the  Eastern  manufacturer  can,  and 
does,  compete  with  Chinese  so-called  cheap  labor,  let  the  fol- 
lowing show,  with  over  three  thousand  miles  of  expensive 
transportation.  It  is  claimed  that  the  Chinese  have  monopo- 
lized the  boot  and  shoe  business,  and  that  the  white  man  is 
driven  to  the  wall.  Notwithstanding  this,  California  has  im- 

146 


ported  from  the  East  the  past  four  years  203,982  cases  of 
boots  and  shoes. 

With  material  to  make  candles  cheaper  than  in  any  State  of 
the  Union,  California  imported  the  past  four  years  448,204 
boxes.  Of  the  article  of  soap,  there  has  been  imported  here 
in  two  years  past  3,561,130  pounds,  and  of  starch  6,050,255 
pounds,  and  so  on  through  the  list,  in  the  face  of  Chinese 
cheap  labor  sophistry.  The  poor  ignorant  white  man  is  told 
that  the  Chinese  live  on  10  cents  a  day,  because  he  eats  rice. 
Rice  is  a  luxury  to  the  Chinese,  like  the  potato  to  the  Irishman, 
and  the  macaroni  to  the  Italian.  Rice  costs  7%  cents  per 
pound;  flour  is  only  21/o  cents.  The  Chinese  laborer  lives  as 
well  and  eats  as  much  fish  and  vegetables  as  his  white  com- 
petitor. Nowhere  in  the  United  States  is  food  so  cheap  and 
labor  so  dear  as  in  California. 

That  distinguished  historian  and  pioneer  of  the  Pacific 
Coast,  John  S.  Hittell,  so  ably  discusses  the 

BENEFITS   OF   CHINESE   IMMIGRATION 

in  an  article  in  the  February  number  of  The  Overland 
Monthly,  that  I  quote  a  moiety  from  it  in  conclusion : 

"The  employment  of  Chinese  has  enabled  capitalists  to  in- 
vest money  in  factories  with  safety,  and  to  promptly  dismiss 
such  white  laborers  as  would  not  work  faithfully;  and  to. 
give  high  wages  to  others.  Gradually  the  proportion  of  whites 
increased.  In  1865,  four  out  of  five  operatives  in  the  San 
Francisco  woolen  mills_,were  Asiatics ;  now  more  than  four  of 
the  five  are  whites.  /By  the  aid  of  the  Chinamen,  thousands 
of  whites  have  acquired  the  skill,  and  the  employment  now 
give  them  a  comfortable  support  in  San  Francisco^ 

"My  second  proposition  is  that  the  same  influences  which 
made  Chinese  labor  beneficial  to  the  State  ten  and  twenty 
years  ago  still  continue  to  predominate.  The  industry  of 
California  consists  mainly  in  the  production  of  raw  material ; 
a  large  part  of  her  income  is  sent  for  the  importation  of 
manufactures,  especially  those  of  finer  qualities,  which,  be- 
cause of  large  price  in  proportion  to  bulk,  can  bear  the 
expense  of  long  and  costly  transportation.  Our  food  is  the 
cheapest,  and  our  manufactured  articles  generally  the  dearest 
in  the  world. 

"The  natural  resources  of  California  are  far  from  being: 

147 


fully  developed;  her  territory  far  from  being  fully  occupied. 
Out  of  100,000,000  acres  not  10,000,000  are  cultivated.  Out 
of  10,000,000  acres  susceptible  of  irrigation  not  1,000,000  are 
supplied.  Millions  of  acres  fit  for  the  prune,  the  almond,  the 
fig,  the  apricot,  or  the  vine,  are  lying  neglected,  because  agri- 
cultural labor  is  twice  as  dear  here  as  in  Illinois,  and  three 
times  as  dear  as  in  Europe.  Sixteen  counties,  with  an  aggre- 
gate area  larger  than  that  of  any  one  of  half  a  dozen  European 
kingdoms,  are  inaccessible  by  rail  ,or  are  touched  only  at  the 
borders.  Any  influence  that  largely  develops  the  industry  of 
the  State,  that  makes  roads  and  builds  factories,  that  plants 
orchards  and  vineyards,  must  give  more  employment  and 
better  wages  to  laborers  than  they  would  have  otherwise ;  and 
especially  to  white  men,  who  have  a  monopoly  of  many  kinds 
of  skill,  resulting  from  familiarity  with  the  language,  ma- 
chinery, and  laws  of  the  country,  and  besides  immense  advan- 
tages from  superior  privileges  of  citizenship,  landownership, 
and  personal  security." 

The  following  is  extracted  from  an  able  paper  by  John 
Bonner,  which  was  published  in  the  Calif ornian  Illustrated 
Magazine,  April,  1894: 

"The  time  has  passed  to  discuss  the  right  of  a  nation  to 
exclude  foreigners  from  its  soil.  Rightly  or  wrongly,  the  Su- 
preme Court  has  settled  the  question;  henceforth,  if  a  for- 
eigner tries  to  settle  on  forbidden  ground  he  must  come  with 
bow  and  brand.  But  the  policy  of  Chinese  exclusion  is  still 
debatable,  and  after  a  dozen  years  of  actual  experience  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  discuss  it  with  more  light  than  the  anti- 
Chinese  of  the  early  eighties  enjoyed. 

1  i  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  few  of  the  prophecies  of  those 
days  have  been  confirmed.  The  authors  of  the  first  Restriction 
Acts  confidently  predicted  that  the  exclusion  of  Chinamen 
would  lead  to  an  active  immigration  of  Eastern  and  European 
peasants  to  work  in  the  orchards  and  vineyards  of  this  State. 
They  said  it  was  the  presence  of  the  cheap-labor  Mongol  which 
kept  out  the  labor  that  was  developing  Iowa  and  Kansas  and 
Minnesota.  It  fact,  Chinese  exclusion  has  not  been  followed 
by  any  remarkable  increase  of  Eastern  or  European  migration. 
There  has  always  been  a  steam  of  white  immigration  to  this 
State,  but  it  did  not  swell  materially  after  1880.  In  the  decade 
1880-90,  Nebraska  more  than  doubled  her  population,  Minne- 

148 


sota  nearly  doubled  hers,  the  Dakotas  nearly  quadrupled 
theirs,  while  California  increased  hers  from  864,697  to  1,208,- 
130. 

"In  an  article  written  in  1880,  the  late  Senator  John  F. 
Miller  spoke  of  the  irrepressible  conflict  between  Christian 
and  Chinese  civilization  on  this  coast,  and  predicted  that  it 
would  end  'in  the  displacement  or  extinction  of  one  or  the 
other.'  This  is  precisely  the  argument  which  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond used  to  justify  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  As  Philip  de- 
clared there  could  not  be  two  churches,  so  Miller  was  sure 
there  could  not  be  two  civilizations.  If  the  Spanish  monarch 
had  lived  to  the  present  day  he  would  have  been  amazed  to 
see  Protestantism  and  Catholicism  thriving  side  by  side  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  Senator  from  California,  were  he  still 
in  the  flesh,  would  have  to  confess  that,  fourteen  years  after 
he  wrote,  neither  civilization  had  made  any  inroads  upon  the 
other.  John  Chinaman  is  just  the  same  old  John  Chinaman 
that  used  to  work  in  the  diggings,  and  neither  the  doctrine  of 
Confucius  nor  the  use  of  chopsticks  has  been  engrafted  upon 
our  life.  It  is  noticed  that,  unlike  the  race  to  which  we  be- 
long, the  Chinese  never  meddle  with  the  religion  or  the 
politics  of  the  countries  to  which  they  migrate.  They  do 
not  ask  for  votes ;  they  make  no  proselytes ;  they  go  about  their 
business  unobtrusively,  earn  and  save  all  the  money  they  can, 
and,  when  they  do  not  lose  it  at  tan,  take  it  home  to  spend 
in  their  old  age  in  the  Flowery  Land.  In  the  Philippine  Isles 
where  they  have  had  a  foothold  off  and  on  for  three  centuries, 
in  Java  where  they  have  lived  for  two  centuries,  in  this  coun- 
try and  in  Australia  where  they  have  been  half  a  century, 
they  have  never  spoken  a  word  or  taken  a  step  which  was  cal- 
culated to  bring  the  two  forms  of  civilization  into  conflict. 
They  are  content  with  theirs  and  they  never  object  to  ours. 

"Three  or  four  years  ago  the  Examiner  newspaper  had  the 
exceedingly  bright  idea  of  sounding  the  planters  of  the  south- 
ern counties  on  the  subject  of  Chinese  labor.  Circular  letters 
were  addressed  to  them,  begging  the  favor  of  a  frank  opinion 
on  the  subject.  Several  score  replies  were  received.  Almost 
without  exception  the  planters  declared  that  they  were  in 
favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  Restriction  Act  and  of  the  re- 
admission  of  Chinamen  under  proper  limitations.  They  said 
that  the  only  white  labor  they  could  obtain  was  unreliable  and 

149 


unsatisfactory.  Germans,  Irishmen,  Portuguese,  Spaniards, 
would  not  put  in  a  full  day's  work  in  the  fierce  sun;  many  of 
them  knocked  off  at  noon;  others  got  drunk  and  lost  two  of 
three  days  in  the  week;  some  stole;  and  even  with  these  de- 
fects the  supply  of  them  was  below  the  demand.  Chinamen 
were  just  the  laborers  the  ranchers  wanted.  They  drove  a 
hard  bargain  for  wages,  but  the  bargain  once  made  they  lived 
up  to  it  and  gave  no  trouble.  They  worked  faithfully  and 
were  generally  honest  and  intelligent.  They  lived  by  them- 
selves in  their  Chinese  huts,  prepared  their  own  food,  and  had 
no  wants  except  a  supply  of  water  for  washing,  on  which  they 
insisted.  The  planters,  generally,  agreed  that,  if  the  supply 
of  Chinamen  were  not  reopened,  the  limit  of  fruit  production 
had  been  reached  in  southern  California.  As  it  was,  large 
quantities  of  plums,  prunes,  peaches,  apricots,  oranges  and 
lemons  were  lost  every  year  for  want  of  an  adequate  supply  of 
labor  in  the  picking  season,  and  when  the  new  orchards  came 
into  bearing  the  loss  would  be  still  larger.  It  appeared  that 
the  resource  on  which  other  countries  rely,  the  labor  of  boys 
and  girls,  is  not  available  in  this  State.  Our  growing  youths 
will  not  work  all  day  in  an  orchard  under  the  broiling  sun. 
They  say  they  cannot.  Such  work  can  only  be  satisfactorily 
accomplished  by  Chinamen  or  negroes. 

"If  the  Examiner  had  presevered  in  the  purpose  it  must 
have  had  in  view  when  the  circulars  were  issued,  it  might, 
perhaps,  by  this  time  have  effected  a  revolution  in  public  senti- 
ment on  the  Chinese  question.  By  dint  of  hammering  solid 
truths  into  the  public  head,  a  vigorous  and  intelligent  news- 
paper may  change  many  minds.  But  there  were  two  classes 
to  which  the  discussion  was  unpalatable;  the  politicians,  who 
discerned  a  possible  loss  of  their  battle  horse,  and  the  labor 
unions,  which  shivered  at  the  thought  of  open,  square  com- 
petition with  industrious  Chinamen  not  addicted  to  whisky 
or  beer.  These  two  classes  brought  influence  to  bear,  and  the 
newspaper  was  muzzled. 

The  following  from  Joaquin  Miller,  published  in  the  Cali- 
fornia Illustrated  Magazine  for  December,  1893,  is  pertinent 
today : 

"Finally,  if  I  were  California,  I  would  not  only  put  the 
tramp  to  work,  but  I  would  protect  every  person  within  my 
lines  who  cared  to  work,  of  whatever  name  or  nation.  If  the 

150 


farmer  and  the  fruit-grower  shall  not  be  allowed  to 
such  men  as  he  may  please  to  employ  without  asking  permis- 
sion of  the  tramp,  then  farewell  to  fair  California.  I  can't 
say  certainly  how  it  is  in  Oregon  and  Washington;  perhaps 
farmers  are  not  pushed  to  the  wall  at  times  up  there  as  they 
are  here  where  harvest  time  is  so  short;  besides,  they  have 
some  Indians  there  who  are  good  in  the  hop  fields ;  but  as  for 
California,  she  needs  her  brown  men.  California  needs  her 
Chinamen,  she  wants  her  Chinamen  and  she  is  going  to  keep 
her  Chinamen ;  and  California  is  going  to  protect  her  laborers 
in  her  fruit  fields,  even  though  she  has  to  shoot  down  every 
tramp  in  the  State. 

"I  take  the  responsibility  of  saying  to  the  *  President  and 
all  others  in  authority'  at  this  Christmas  time,  that  the  people 
of  California  not  only  will  protect  the  Chinamen  now  here, 
but  they  want  the  Golden  Gates  swung  wide  open  to  all  the 
world,  as  God  made  it. 

"And  why  has  this  not  been  said  before?  It  is  a  long  story, 
and  the  trouble  grew  slowly;  but  finally,  the  tramp  or  Sand- 
lot  element,  all  voters,  became  a  formidable  factor  in  politics. 

"Briefly  then,  every  bright  'heir  apparent  to  the  throne,' 
editor,  and  politician  of  any  sort  fell  down  before  that  mon- 
strous Sand-lot  god  and  worshipped  there  till  it  grew  to  be 
the  fat  and  formidable  beast  of  today. 

"The  farmer  wants  and  must  have  labor,  and  cheap  labor 
at  that.  His  margin  of  profits  is  small.  His  busiest  season  is 
hot  and  short.  He  can  trust  the  Chinaman  and  he  cannot 
trust  the  tramp. 

"And  we  tillers  of  the  soil  in  this  wilderness  and  in  this 
night  of  trouble  have  already  fixed  our  eyes  on  the  pillar  of 
fire  which  we  are  to  follow. 

"This  question  of  cheap  labor  and  the  employment  of 
whom  we  please  to  till  our  fields  is  to  be  settled  at  the  ballot— 
the  Australian  ballot,  mind  you;  not  the  saloon  ballot  or  the 
sand-lot  ballot.  The  issue  will  be :  Shall  a  man  employ  whom 
he  pleases  and  pay  what  he  can  ?  or  shall  he  submit  to  the  dic- 
tation of  tramps? 

"Had  I  the  qualities  or  even  a  disposition  to  be  the  next 
Governor  of  California  I  would  lay  down  these  hurriedly 
written  pages  as  the  chief  planks  in  my  platform ;  and  trust - 


ing  to  my  fellow  toilers  and  tillers  of  the  soil  in  California 
would  quietly  pack  my  trunk  for  the  Capital." 

Although  the  majority  of  the  American  Federation  ©f 
Labor  are  opposed  to  the  admission  of  Chinese  laborers  into 
this  country;  the  organization  is  by  no  means  a  unit  on  the 
subject.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Socialists,  who  are  also 
trade-unionists,  and  members  of  the  Federation,  are  by  the 
logic  of  their  constitution  and  the  principles  announced  in 
their  propaganda  opposed  to  the  enaction  of  exclusion  laws. 

The  following  from  Mr.  Bandlow,  a  printer,  and  well  recog- 
nized labor  leader,  is  given  as  an  authoritative  expression  of 
Socialist  sentiments  on  the  Chinese  question: 

"The  law  excluding  Chinese  from  America  will  soon  expire, 
and  the  exclusion  of  Mongol  labor  is  exciting  attention  from 
the  labor  world.  While  the  majority  of  the  men  prominent 
in  the  labor  movement  in  this  country  are  expressing  them 
selves  in  favor  of  the  re-enactment  of  the  Gerry  law,  from 
Cleveland  comes  the  first  discordant  note  in  the  plea  of  labor, 
asking  that  the  Chinaman  He  treated  'as  a  human  being,  and 
not  discriminated  against  in  favor  of  the  other  families  of  th  e 
world.' 

"Robert  Bandlow,  who  is  known  all  over  the  country  as  one 
of  the  most  aggressive  leaders  in  favor  of  labor,  some  time 
ago  stood  alone  in  the  councils  of  the  International  Typo- 
graphical Union  in  its  convention  at  Birmingham,  Ala.,  and 
under  a  storm  of  hisses  and,  looks  of  scorn  championed  the 
cause  of  the  Chinaman  and  protested)  against  the  indorsement 
by  that  body  of  a  renewal  of  the  life  of  the  Gerry  law. 

1 '  In  speaking  of  his  attitude  on  the  question,  made  germain 
by  the  recent  warning  of  President  Mitchell  to  the  miners 
of  Pennsylvania,  that  they  must  have  the  Chinese  excluded  or 
they  would  replace  them  in  the  mines,  he  said : 

"  '/  am  first  of  all  things  a  man,  endowed  with  common 
feelings  of  humanity  and  endowed  with  the  same  desires  and 
ambitions,  the  same  longings  for  freedom  and  liberty,  for 
home  and  comfort  as  other  members  of  the  human  family.' 
said  Mr.  Bandlow,  yesterday.  ' Emigration  is  the  universal 
right.  Human  beings  were  placed  upon  this  earth  with  rights, 
among  others  to  select  for  themselves  that  spot  on  the  ftod- 
given  earth  where  they  may  the  best  enjoy  themselves  and 
develop  their  soul  longings  and  better  natures.  But  thre*» 

152 


centuries  separate  the  Mongol  of  today  from  the  En<rlishm;i:i 
and  German  of  our  earliest  inhabitants.  No  one  questions 
the  right  of  the  landers  at  Plymouth  to  establish  themsdv.s 
on  the  historic  rock.  Today  by  power  it  is  sought  to  extend 
a  system  which  deprives  a  certain  portion  of  the  earth's 
inhabitants  from  the  same  privilege.  As  a  Socialist  I  oppose 
this  iniquitous  proceeding  and  curtailing  of  human  liberty. 

"No  man  ever  left 'his  own  home  of  his  own  volition.  If 
he  went  elsewhere  it  was  because  others  wanted  him  in  his 
new  environment.  It  is  not  the  Chinaman  who  comes,  but 
the  capitalist  who  invites,  that  is  responsible  for  any  importa- 
tions of  the  cheap  laborer.  The  condition  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
of  the  Chinaman  is  the  same  as  the  Italian  problem  on  the 
Atlantic.  Capital  wants  their  labor,  is  willing  to  hire  them 
at  under-paid  wages  or  they  would  not  come.  In  our  com- 
petitive system  where  labor  is  compelled  to  go  into  the  markets 
and  gee  the  best  price  for  its  efforts  that  it  may,  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Chinaman  is  but  a  logical  incident,  and  the  laborer 
who  does  not  see  his  own  welfare  strongly  enough  to  throw 
aside  the  system  should  not  object  to  one  of  its  evils. 

"The  Chinaman  is  to  be  excluded  because  he  degrades 
labor.  Labor  degrades  itself  when  it  consents  to  live  under 
a  system  where  it  can  be  sold  for  only  a  portion  of  its  worth. 
Labor  today  sets  its  own  estimate  upon  its  worth,  accepts  the 
half  portion  with  eager  hands,  protests  only  when  the  market 
is  driven  too  strongly  against  it  and  is  estopped  from  denying 
to  other  laborers  the  right  to  place  the  valuation  on  its  own 
worth. 

"That  the  country  is  not  able  to  support  the  great  influx 
of  labor  is  untrue.  The  State  of  Texas  alone  should  be  able 
to  support  the  population  of  the  world  on  a  scientific  basis  of 
living.  Surely  the  resources  of  the  whole  country  would  not 
be  overtaxed  by  the  introduction  of  the  celestials  who  may  be 
brought  here  by  those  who  desire  cheap  labor." 

To  show  the  status  of  the  Single  Taxers  and  their  relation 
to  the  Chinese  question,  I  can  do  no  greater  favor  to  the 
reader  than  to  the  opening  speech  that  was  delivered  in  San 
Francisco  in  the  winter  of  1902.  The  speaker,  Mr.  Granger, 
is  a  journeyman  tailor,  and  would  if  the  exclusionists  were 
right,  be  injured  by  Chinese  competition.  The  reader  will 

'53 


notice  how  thoroughly  Mr.  Granger  has  answered  Judge  Ma- 
guire. 

But  the  reader  must  judge  for  himself.  The  following  is 
Mr.  Granger's  speech,  in  part: 

DOES  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OP  THE  SINGLE  TAX 
JUSTIFY  THE  GOVERNMENT  OR  THE  PEOPLE 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  THE  EXCLUSION 
OF  CHINESE  OR  OTHER  IMMIGRANTS? 

"What  is  the  Philosophy  of  the  Single  Tax?  Briefly,  the 
Philosophy  of  the  Single  Tax  springs  from  the  belief  that  all 
men,  or,  more  correctly,  all  human  beings,  are  created  equal, 
that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalien- 
able rights,  among  which  are  Life,  Liberty  and  the  Pursuit  of 
Happiness.  The  first  of  these  is  primordial.  The  others  base 
upon  that.  The  right  to  life  necessarily  carries  with  it  the 
right  to  the  use  of  the  earth,  without  which  life  itself  could 
not  be  originated  or  maintained.  Therefore  the  right  to  life 
and  to  the  use  of  the  earth  for  the  origination  and  the  main- 
tenance of  that  life  exist  alone  from  the  fact  of  the  existence 
of  the  individual,  and  not  merely  as  a  grant  from  society. 
From  which  it  follows  that  the  right  to  use  any  portion  of 
the  earth  is  absolute  and  unlimited  as  long  and  as  far  as,  if 
not  more  than  one  person  wants  to  use  one  and  the  same 
natural  opportunity  at  the  same  time.  As  soon  as  two  or 
more  persons  seek  access  to,  and  use  of,  the  same  natural 
opportunity,  then,  and  not  till  then,  such  right  becomes  limited 
by  the  like  or  equal  right  of  that  other  or  those  others.  Then 
it  becomes  the  duty  of  society  to  exact  from  the  withholder  of 
such  portion  of  the  earth  such  premium  as  will  prove  adequate 
compensation  to  the  party  or  parties  from  whom  he  withholds 
it  for  his  or  her  exclusion  from  access  to  such  natural  oppor- 
tunity. 

"This  is,  in  condensed  form,  the  philosophy  of  the  Single 
Tax.  It  seeks  to  preserve,  or  regain,  those  inalienable  rights 
of  the  individual  which  existed  before  the  institution  of  any 
government.  They  exist  independently  of  any  form  of  so- 
ciety or  government.  The  Single  Tax  Philosophy  recognizes 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of  Man.  It  ap- 
plies to  and  includes  all  human  beings,  no  matter  what  their 
race,  their  nationality  or  their  religion. 

154 


"One  of  these  individual  rights  directly  deducible  from 
both  the  right  to  Liberty  and  the  right  to  the  Pursuit  of 
Happiness  is  the  Right  of  Migration,— the  right  to  move  about 
in  the  world,  the  right  to  enjoy  life  where  life  seems  most  en- 
joyable. This  right  finds  its  limit  only  in  the  equal  right  of 
every  other  human  being  to  do  likewise. 

"No  government,  therefore,  can  justly  prohibit  any  indi- 
vidual from  traveling  or  sojourning  upon  that  part  of  the 
earth  over  which  it  exercises  jurisdiction  until  such  individual 
has  forefited  such  natural  right  by  the  commission,  or  at- 
tempted commission,  of  some  crime  against  law  of  equal 
rights. 

"This,  I  believe,  is  the  ground,  and  the  only  ground,  on 
which  we  can  rightly  debate  the  question  of  Chinese  Exclu- 
sion. If  we  can  justify  it  at  all  we  must  do  so  upon  the  prin- 
ciples just  enunciated.  And  such  justification  must  prove 
conclusive  or  final  in  the  minds  of  all  who  are  willing  to  grant 
others  every  right  which  they  claim  for  themselves.  And  T 
believe  it  self-evident  that  only  such  people  are  in  the  right 
frame  of  mind  to  deal  justly  with  this  subject.  And  all  others 
—no  matter  how  great  their  number,— no  matter  how  well- 
informed  they  may  be,— no  matter  how  good  their  intentions, 
—are  prejudiced  on  this  subject.  Though  they  may  carry 
their  point  their  success  will  prove  a  victory  for  intolerance 
and  the  signal  for  further  encroachments  upon  the  highest 
natural  rights  of  humanity. 

"Thus  far  I  believe  I  have  stated  the  case  fairly,  though 
necessarily  with  great  brevity.  I  must  now  come  directly  to 
the  very  heart  of  the  question,— that  is  the  ground  on  which 
those  who  differ  advocate  and  justify  exclusion.  On  that 
part  I  must  admit  that  I  am  not  as  well  informed  as  I  would 
like  to  be.  I  have  not  yet  heard  or  read  of  any  reason  that 
would,  to  any  fair-minded  man,  justify  the  exclusion  of  all 
Chinese  from  this  country.  But  that,  of  course,  does  not 
prove  that  such  reason  does  not  exist.  The  burden  of  proof 
lies  upon  the  exclusionists  for  right  reason  must  grant  that 
Chinamen  have  the  right  to  come  to  this  country  and  to  live 
in  it  unless  they  forfeit  or  have  forfeited  such  right. 

"I  will  not  now  attempt  the  review  of  the  arguments  for 
exclusion  which  have  fallen  under  my  limited  observation. 

'55 


We  may  class  them  under  three  heads:— the  Economic,  the 
Moral,  and  the  Political. 

"The  economic  argument  is  that  Chinamen  are  willing  to 
work  for  very  low  wages,— that  they  can  subsist  on  very 
little;  that,  out  of  small  wages  they  can  save  so  much  that, 
after  a  few  years  here,  they  can  and  do  take  their  savings  out 
of  this  country  to  China.  And,  that,  by  doing  all  this,  they 
lower  the  standard  of  wages  which  would  be  maintained  if  not 
raised ;  that  their  frugality  is  an  obstacle  to  the  free  revolving 
of  the  wheels  of  commerce,  and  that,  finally,  when  they  do  go 
away,  they  do  us  still  another  injury  by  taking  along  with 
them  all  that  they  have  been  able  to  save  out  of  their  small 
wages. 

"Now  it  is  true  that  they  do  work  for  small  wages  when 
compelled  to  do  so.  It  is  also  true  that  they  can  and  do  under- 
bid American  or,  perhaps,  any  other  workmen,  when  looked 
at  in  the  matter  of  dollars  and  cents  alone.  But  it  is  not  a 
proof  that  the  product  of  their  labor  is  cheaper  than  that  of 
the  other  workmen.  Were  it  so,  however,  it  would  only  prove 
that  they  were  the  fittest  to  survive  which  should  be  an  ad- 
monition to  the  rest  of  us  to  get  a  move  on  or  get  left. 

"Furthermore,  if  their  willingness  to  accept  low  wages 
could  be  made  to  righteously  justify  their  exclusion,  whither 
would  the  logic  of  such  an  argument  certainly  lead  us? 
They  are  not  Chinamen  who  fill  the  sweat-shops  of  this  coun- 
try in  the  East  and  the  Northeast,  in  which  the  lowest  wages 
are  said  to  average  not  more  than  $76  a  year.  They  are  not 
Chinamen  who  till  the  fields  of  the  South  or  furnish  the 
cheap  labor  of  the  mills  South  and  East,  or  for  the  coal  mines 
of  Pennsylvania  and  elsewhere,  where  wages  hardly  keep 
body  and  soul  together.  No  one  has  yet  dared  to  say  or  to 
claim  that  such  conditions  exist  in  those  localities,  or  in  others 
one  might  name,  on  account  of  the  presence  of  Chinamen  in 
this  country.  No,  Chinamen  are  not  the  cause  of  the  lower- 
ing of  wages  in  America.  Their  exclusion  would  not  stop  the 
downward  tendency  which  has  set  in  and  is  now  working  full 
time,  24  hours  a  day,  without  holidays,  every  day  in  every 
year,  and  will  continue  so  to  work  every  day  of  every  year 
until  the  people  shall  become  wise  enough  to  reverse  that 
tendency  from  downward  to  upward. 

"As  proof  of  this  assertion,  the  Census  Bulletins  now  issu- 


ing  from  Washington  show  conclusively  that  the  standard  of 
tvages  in  the  United  States  is  steadily  going  down,  year  by 
year,  and  even  day  by  day,  and  that,  too,  not  alone  in  the 
industries  and  occupations  which  employ  Chinamen,  but  in 
nearly  all  industries  and  employments  or  occupations. 

"That  this  is  so  and  could  not  well  be  otherwise  the  mem- 
bers of  this  society  should  clearly  understand  the  moment 
the  case  is  thus  stated.  The  fundamental  factor  in  reducing 
wages  we  find  in  our  land  laws  which  legalize  the  withholding 
of  land  from  use,  and  holding  it  for  speculation  only.  This 
forces  the  laborer  to  accept  lower  and  lower  wages  as  fast  as 
that  portion  of  his  earnings  which  he  must  yield  in  land  rent 
is  used  in  withholding  from  his  use  more  and  more  of  natural 
opportunities.  This  goes  on  till  at  last,  as  now,  practically  no 
opportunities  which  afford  a  living  are  open  to  him  without 
the  payment  of  rent.  In  this  condition  the  ever-increasing 
power  and  efficiency  of  labor-saving  machinery,  which,  in  a 
really  free  country,  would  be  the  free  man's  servant  and  his 
most  Valuable  auxiliary  becomes  the  instrument  of  his  oppres- 
sion and  actual  enslavement.  For,  no  matter  how  cheap  labor 
may  be  labor-saving  machinery  is  cheaper  still,  and  labor, 
being  forced  to  demand  employment  of  those  controlling  the 
natural  opportunities  which  he  must  use,  has  to  compete,  not 
with  Chinamen  at  low  wages,  but  with  machinery  at  still 
lower  wages.  That  is,  the  owner  of  machinery  having  to  deal 
with  labor  shut  out  of  access  to  land  by  the  effect  of  our  land 
laws,  are  able,  as  employers  of  labor,  to  dictate  terms  to 
labor. 

*  *  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  labor-saving  machinery  is  not  self- 
acting,  and  therefore  requires  laborers  to  operate  it.  But 
it  is  also  true  that  when  once  in  action  machinery  requires  less 
and  less  of  labor  to  superintend  or  to  operate  it  and  thus  con- 
stantly eliminates  more  and  more  of  the  labor  previously  re- 
quired. Thus,  as  it  grows  more  and  more  automatic,  it  con- 
tinually produces  an  ever-increasing  surplus  of  labor,  potential 
if  not  actual.  It  matters  not  if  all  occupations  are  not  thus 
affected;  a  sufficient  number  of  them  are  so  affected  as  to 
produce  the  over-supply  of  labor  and,  that  once  done,  employ- 
ers promptly  supply  the  rest,  Chinaman  or  no  Chinaman. 

"Our  trade  unions  do  all  they  can  to  diminish  the  evil 
effects,  but  they  cannot  reach  or  alter  the  causes.  They  act 

157 


like  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  superior  force ;  they  retard  but 
cannot  arrest  the  tendency  of  lower  and  lower  wages.  Nothing 
can  do  that,  short  of  the  resumption  of  our  greatest  birth- 
right, the  right  to  the  use  of  the  land.  This  we  could  fully 
obtain  by  the  application  of  the  Single  Tax,— unlimited. 

"The  second  great  economic  grievance  embodied  in  the 
accusation  against  the  Chinaman  is,  that  he  don't  spend 
enough  of  his  low  wages  here  to  suit  somebody.  This  no 
person  of  common  sense,  having  any  idea  of  morality,  can 
seriously  discuss  or  defend  for  a  moment. 

"It  is  enough  to  say  that,  even  if  this  alleged  practice  is 
not  as  good  for  our  merchants,  still  the  Chinese  are  acting 
fully  within  their  rights  by  practicing  frugality,  no  matter 
how  far  they  may  carry  the  practice.  That  is  wholly  their 
own  business  as  it  was  that  of  our  own  forefathers  in  New 
England  and,  later,  of  the  great  West,  whose  habitual  and 
even  voluntary  frugality  fully  equaled  that  of  the  averasre 
Chinaman  of  today  among  us. 

"Now  as  to  the  third  economic  grievance:  The  Chinaman 
injures  us  by  taking  his  savings  along  with  him  out  of  the 
country  in  which  he  made  them,  back  to  China.  In  any  honest 
sense  of  the  word  this  is  simply  absurd.  Doubly  so.  In  the 
first  place,  it  accuses  him  of  selling  his  labor  for  less  than  it 
is  worth  and  thereby  contributing  to  the  ruin  of  the  country 
Then  it  charges  him  with  taking  away  out  of  the  country  too 
much  of  that  too  little  which  he  had  worked  for.  The  truth 
is,— and  no  one  who  sees  or  thinks  can  rightly  deny  it,— he 
leaves  behind  him  in  this  country  some  of  the  products  of  his 
labor  for  which  he  was  so  slightly  paid  and  which  should, 
rightfully,  be  his  own. 

"Nor  does  the  accusation  of  depleting  our  currency  possess 
any  more  truth  or  force.  Chinamen  in  China  do  not  need 
our  money  and  could  not  use  it  if  they  had  it.  As  'for  our 
precious  metals,  we  are  at  all  times  willing  to  sell  them  to 
whomsoever  will  pay  the  price.  Now,  observe  that  when  a 
Chinaman  takes  five  or  ten  dollars  in  gold  to  China  he  had 
first  to  pay  the  price  in  labor  or  in  labor's  product  here. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  do  not  take  United  States  money 
at  all  to  China.  Instead  of  doing  that  they  buy  with  it,  here, 
Mexican  silver  dollars  which  are,  with  us,  not  only  merchand- 
ise, but  almost  a  drug  in 'the  market. 


''From  what  we  have  seen  so  far  no  good  reason  exists  to 
justify  exclusion  on  economic  grounds,  and  I  do  not  believe 
my  can  be  given  that  will  stand  the  test  of  true  economic 
reasoning. 

"Let  us  consider,  then,  the  alleged  moral  reasons.  The 
Chinese  have  many  good  qualities,  but  they  are  no  more  nearly 
perfect  than  other  peoples.  They  have  vices  in  common  with 
others  and  some  that  are  peculiarly  their  own,  such  as  opium- 
smoking,  for  instance.  As  to  that,  however,  we  must  bear  in 
mind,  in  regard  to  this  habit,  that  it  was  forced  upon  them 
and  is  kept  in  force  upon  them,  by  a  nation  claiming  the 
highest  rank  in  civilization  and  Christianity,— that  is,  Eng- 
land. They  are  not  always  truthful  and  cannot  always  be 
depended  upon  to  tell  the  truth  even  when  under  oath  unless 
it  may  suit  their  purposes  and  mood  to  do  so.  But,  in  this 
case,  as  ir.  many  others,  when  compared  with  other  races,  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  difference  lies  not  in  our  superior  respect 
for  the  truth,  but  in  the  racial  fact  that  the  Chinese  are  more 
stolid,  less  sensitive  to  pain  and,  therefore,  less  sensitive  to 
punishment  when  found  out  or  convicted. 

"They  are  said  to  be  great  gamblers,  but  perhaps  not  more 
so  than  any  other  equal  number  of  any  other  race  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  when  placed  in  similar  situations. 

"As  Chinamen  are  here  they  are  accused  of  indifference  to 
dirt  and  of  living  in  ways  to  defy  sanitation  even  to  the 
point  of  endangering  our  health  as  well  as  their  own.  Much 
of  this,  I  believe,  may  be  true.  But  I  believe  that  this  addi- 
tional fact  is  also  true,— that  it  lies  easily  within  our  power 
to  prevent  and  wholly  correct  this  whenever  we  shall  be 
thoroughly  in  earnest  about  it.  Cleanliness  is  a  question  of 
degree  more  than  of  kind  and  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to 
tell  who  is  clean  and  who  is  not  except  by  comparison  of  stan- 
dards as  well  as  of  persons.  And  I  truly  believe  that  in  all 
large  cities,  even  those  which  have  never  known  the  Chinese 
inhabitant,  there  are  spots  to  which  our  San  Francisco  China- 
town would  seem  excellently  sanitary  in  comparison.  Take 
the  old  'Mulberry  Bend'  in  New  York,  for  example.  They  are 
the  spots  in  which  the  poor  are  forced  to  congregate,  but  such 
are  never  the  voluntary  choice  of  any  human  beings. 

"All  other  objections  of  a  political  nature,  it  seems  to  me, 
we  can  dismiss  at  once.  The  privilege  of  citizenship  can  be 

•59 


conferred  or  not  upon  any  applying  for  them.  As  to  this 
point,  it  is  timely  to  say  that,  while  our  laws  actually  deny 
naturalization  to  Chinese,  they  are  still  accused  of  remaining 
foreigners,  not  only  the  immigrants,  but  even  the  native  born. 
Need  one  say  more  ?  In  regard  to  the  native-born  Chinaman . 
I  believe  it  is  yet  to  soon  to  have  found  out  what  kind  of  an 
American  citizen  he  makes,  or  would  make.  If  I  am  rightly 
informed  the  last  registration  in  this  city  was  the  first  at 
which  the  Chinamen  had  the  chance  to  register  at  all.  I  think 
that  many  of  those  entitled  to  register  did  so  but  whether 
they  voted,  if  they  did  vote,  I  do  not  know  and  think  very 
few  people  do. 

' '  To  soothe  the  consciences  of  the  opponents  of  exclusion  it 
is  said  that  we  grant  as  much  as  we  claim, — that  we  are  will- 
ing to  let  the  Chinese  in  China  put  up  their  bars  against  us 
there  as  much  as  we  put  ours  up  against  them  here.  This 
might  seem  reasonable  if  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  or  of 
our  two  nations,  were  about  equally  divided  as  to  the  resources 
which  they  control.  But  when  we  compare  the  population 
which  China  has  to  sustain  with  the  population  of  this  country 
and  also  compare  the  area  and  natural  resources  of  each  with 
those  of  the  other  we  must  admit  that,  unless  we  can  show 
that  we  are  made  of  much  superior  clay  and,  therefore,  that 
we  can  show  a  better  right  to  the  use  of  the  earth  than  they 
can,  we  are  playing  the  role  of  the  'Dog  in  the  Manger., 

"But  is  it  ever  true  that  we  are  quite  willing  to  let  China- 
men in  China  put  up  the  bars  against  us?  I  do  not  think  so. 
At  any  rate  no  protest  from  exclusionists  was  heard  when  our 
government  lately  took  most  active,  efficient  and  noble  part 
in  the  joint  expedition  or  invasion,  having  for  its  object  to 
prevent  China  from  doing  that  very  thing. 

"Nor  do  we  hear  any  protest  from  that  quarter  against  the 
abominable  war  against  the  Philippines,  which  involves  the 
same  principles. 

"Again  it  is  said  that  we  have  been  given  this  continent  in 
trust  for  liberty. — that  to  allow  a  few  millions  of  Chinese  to 
escape  from  the  conditions  in  their  own  country,  which  they 
might  remedy  at  once  did  they  so  choose,  would  be  to  our 
eternal  shame  instead  of  our  credit. 

"Let  us  see  what  this  reason  thus  given  for  Chinese  exclu- 
sion yields  under  careful  analysis : 

160 


"In  the  first  place,  I  deny  that  we  were  given  this  country 
at  all  in  any  sense  which  the  phrase  implies.  The  truth  is 
that  in  that  sense  this  country  was  given  to  the  Red  man  and 
not  to  the  White.  But  the  White  having  greater  brute  force, 
greater  numbers  and  more  mental  ability,  if  you  prefer,  have 
about  succeeded  in  getting  a  quit-claim  from  the  former. 

"But,  in  whatever  way  it  came  about,  it  is  true  and  will 
stand  forever  to  the  glory  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
that  till  within  the  last  few  years,  this  so-called  trust,  thus 
self-assumed,  was  administered  in  the  interest  of  liberty.  And 
it  was  the  proud  boast  of  the  people  of  this  country  that  it  of- 
fered a  sure  refuge,  a  free  asylum,  to  the  oppressed  of  every 
land.  At  that  time  the  administrators  of  the  trust  did  not  tell 
the  oppressed  of  any  land  that  they  might  remedy  the  condi- 
tions under  which  they  suffered.  On  the  contrary  they  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  as  governments  are  constituted  it  is  possible 
to  bring  about  more  tyranny  by  agitation  for  freedom.  They 
had  not  yet  forgotten,  what  so  many  do  forget,  that,  had  they 
failed  in  their  great  struggle  for  independence,  which  con- 
tingency was  at  all  times  possible  and  at  one  time  even  very 
probable,  had  they  not  succeeded  in  getting  outside  help,  the 
sure  result  would  have  been  greater  subjection  to  worse  tyr- 
rany  than  ever,  instead  of  the  noble  freedom  they  more  nobly 
won. 

"But  now  exclusionists  propose  that  on  this  very  continent, 
which  they  boast  was  given  us  in  trust  for  liberty,  the  trustees 
shall  forbid  some  of  the  people  who  are  seeking  liberty  free 
access  to  it.  Is  it  not  the  very  negation  of  the  trust?  Is 
it  not  the  very  height  of  paradoxical?  If  Chinese  come 
hither  to  escape  conditions  in  their  own  country  is  not 
such  coming  proof  positive  that  those  conditions  are  not 
conditions  of  freedom?  &nd,  in  comhug  hither,  they  must 
seek  more  freedom,  not  less.  Surely  they  cannot  injure  lib- 
erty, the  very  condition  which  they  leave  their  native  land  to 
seek. 

"Now,  then,  if  this  continent  was  given  us  in  trust  for 
Liberty,  how  in  the  name  cf  Common  Sense  can  we  consistent- 
ly exclude  any  human  being  from  it,  especially  that  human 
being  who  voluntarily  comes  hither  seeking  that  blessing  of 
liberty,  without  conclusively  demonstrating  thereby  that  wo 


have  criminally  violated  our  high  trust  and  thus  shamelessly 
confessing  our  voluntary  un worthiness  1 

"In  conclusion  let  me  s&y  that  I  believe  this  agitation  foi 
exclusion  is  really  another  phase  of  the  'Protection  to  Ameri- 
can Labor'  idea.  That  fetich  has  lost  many  of  its  worshiper! 
since  the  publication  of  'Protection  or  Free  Trade,'  but  it  ii 
by  no  means  dead  yet.  May  this  exclusion  idea  prove  its  last 
harmful  kick.  Then  may  there  come  the  Era  of  Justice,  usher- 
ing in  the  Brotherhood  of  Man  too  long  delayed  by  the  too- 
successful  tactics  of  the  privileged  classes  to  divide  the  work- 
ing classes  and  still  forther  helped  by  the  refusal  of  all  to 
live  according  to  the  Golden  Rule.  Then  shall  this  accom- 
plished 'Brotherhood  of  Man'  demonstrate  the  universal 
'Fatherhood  'of  God'  and  command  His  eternal  blessing 
through  all  the  blessed  'Millennium'  toward  which  our  strug- 
gling, stumbling  race  has  so  long  and  so  hopefully  striven." 

The  following  address  was  delivered  at  the  Annual  dinner 
of  the  Unitarian  Club  of  San  Francisco,  in  San  Francisco. 
Nov.  25,  1901,  by  a  gentleman  who  has  spent  practically  all 
his  life  in  the  Chinese  Empire,  a  gentleman  than  whom  there 
is  probably  no  man  living  more  familiar  with  the  Chinese 
conditions,  and  who  by  reason  of  a  residence  of  some  years  in 
this  State  has  coupled  a  knowledge  of  those  conditions  with  a 
knowledge  of  those  in  America.  Dr.  John  Fryer,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California: 

"Mr.  CHAIRMAN  and  GENTLEMEN:  In  complying  with  the 
request  of  your  Committee  that  I  should  speak  on  the  negatiye 
side  of  this  resolution,  I  wish,  in  the  first  place,  to  refer  to  the 
general  principle  as  the  basis  for  my  remarks. 

"No  one  will  deny  that  the  family  has  a  perfect  right  to 
decide  what  persons  shall  be  admitted  within  its  doors,  and 
what  persons  shall  be  excluded.  In  the  same  way  a  corporate 
body,  such  as  the  Unitarian  Club,  for  instance,  has  a  perfect 
right  to  determine  what  persons  shall  be  eligible  for  member- 
ship, what  shall  be  the  limit  of  the  number  of  members,  and 
what  persons  shall  be  excluded.  In  a  like  manner,  carrying 
the  principle  a  little  further,  any  civilized  and  independent 
nation  has  the  absolute  power  to  determine  which  race  or 
peoples  shall  be  allowed  to  dwell  within  her  borders,  and  which 
shall  be  debarred  that  privilege.  A  government  necessarily, 
therefore,  is  perfectly  justified,  whether  from  motives,  the 

162 


result  of  incompatability,  from  motives  of  safety  or  self-pre- 
servation, or  from  other  sufficient  and  reasonable  causes,  to 
debar  the  people  of  any  race,  and  the  whole  outside  world, 
from  landing  on  its  shores,  and  living  within  its  borders. 

"Applying  now  this  general  principle  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  Chinese,  it  is  perfectly  just  and  reasonable  that  if  the 
whole  race,  or  a  part  of  them,  are  found  to  be,  or  even  sup- 
posed on  good  grounds  to  be  injurious  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  by  the  majority  of  the  citizens,  there  is  no 
earthly  reason  why  they  should  be  allowed  to  come  to  or 
remain  in  this  country.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  government  to 
protect  its  own  citizens  against  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  An 
act  to  enact  that  for  good  reasons  the  Chinese  should  be  el- 
eluded  would,  itself,  be  perfectly  in  harmony  with  the  doctrine 
and  principles  of  justice  and  of  international  law;  but,  pro- 
vided, of  course,  that  the  United  States  consent  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  its  own  people  from  going  to  China  if  the  Chinese 
do  not  want  them  there.  (Applause.  The  rule,  to  be  just,  you 
see,  ought  to  work  both  ways. 

"This  brings  us  to  the  other  side  of  the  question,  which  is 
persistently  overlooked  by  most  of  those  who  discuss  the 
Geary  Exclusion  Act.  If  two  independent  nations  entering 
into  an  agreement  or  treaty  for  mutual  intercourse  and  good 
will,  promise  that  their  people  shall  be  allowed  to  come  and  go 
as  they  please,  take  up  their  residence,  and  carry  on  commer- 
cial or  other  transactions,  and  each  one  in  every  way  to  act  as 
good  friends  for  mutual  advantage,  then  as  long  as  the  treaty 
exists,  one  party  is  not  at  liberty  to  suddenly  exclude  the  well 
disposed  and  law-abiding  members  of  the  other  party  from 
its  boundaries;  unless,  of  course,  there  has  been  an  open  rup- 
ture and  war  is  declared  and  the  treaty  is  suspended.  Now, 
just  such  a  treaty  exists  at  the  present  time  between  the  United 
States  and  China,  as  that  which  I  have  just  described.  And 
who  wanted  that  treaty!  Was  it  China?  Did  the  Emperor 
of  China  write  a  letter  to  the  President  of  the  United  States 
asking  him  to  make  such  a  treaty,  allowing  his  subjects  to 
come  to  America,  to  live  there  for  their  own  commercial  ad- 
vantage, or  for  the  proselyting  of  the  Americans  to  the  Con- 
fucian religion?  (Laughter.)  We  all  know  that  it  was  the 
other  way  around.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  letter  ad- 
dressed by  President  Tyler  to  the  Emperor  of  China  in  1843, 

163 


asking  for  a  treaty  to  be  made,  without  wonder  at  the  dif- 
ferent spirit  which  has  since  come  over  some  of  the  American 
people.  That  letter  says:  'Our  Minister,  Caleb  Gushing,  is 
authorized  to  make  a  treaty  to  regulate  trade.  Let  it  be  just. 
Let  there  be  no  unfair  advantage  on  either  side.'  And  so  on. 
"Now,  let  us  take  particular  notice  of  these  words,  and  then 
ask,  *  is  this  the  spirit  of  the  Exclusion  Act  ? '  Our  friends  on 
the  affirmative  know  that  it  is  not;  and  we  on  the  negative 
know  it  as  well. 

' l  A  treaty  having  been  subsequently  made  and  ratified,  and 
the  United  States  having  taken  the  fullest  possible  advantage 
3f  it,  have  sent  our  merchants  and  our  missionaries  by  hun- 
dreds and  thousands  to  China,  claiming  the  fulfillment  of 
every  item  to  the  very  letter,  enjoying  every  privilege  to  the 
fullest  extent  that  the  Chinese  gOTernment  could  yield  it,  and 
exacting  heavy  penalties  whenever  treaty  rights  were  broken 
through  the  temporary  inability  of  the  Chinese  Government 
to  prevent  such  irregularities;  with  a  great  and  increasing 
and  lucrative  commerce  established  with  China,  which  is  be- 
coming one  of  our  best  customers — was  all  the  advantage 
intended  to  be  thus  on  one  side  only?  Was  China  alone  to 
observe  the  treaty  to  its  fullest  extent  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
United  States  to  ignore  it  when  it  did  not  suit  its  purposes  on 
the  other? 

"What  did  President  Tyler  say?  'Let  it  be  just.  Let  there 
be  no  unfair  advantage  on  either  side. '  Was  it  right  for  one 
party  to  annul,  or  ignore  or  modify  the  treaty  by  establishing 
a  law,  without  the  consent  of  the  other,  or  even  without  so 
much  as  officially  informing  the  other,  or  going  through  the 
form  of  a  consultation?  Why  we  know  that  trouble,  if  not 
war,  would  have  followed  quickly  if  China  had  been  the 
aggressor  in  this  respect.  Yet  this  is  precisely  what  the  United 
States  did  when  the  Exclusion  Act  was  passed  and  carried 
into  execution,  and  that  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  or 
sanction  of  the  Government  or  of  the  Emporer  of  China.  A 
more  arbitrary  proceeding,  contrary  to  all  the  principles  of 
international  law,  a  more  flagrant  violation  of  a  high  national 
treaty,  I  say  is  not  on  record.  (Applause.)  We  know  that 
if  such  a  thing  had  been  done  to  any  other  nation,  however 
small,  war  might  have  been  the  result.  But  China  was  weak 
and  unable  to  prevent  this  Exclusion  Act  from  being  carried 

164 


out  against  her  people,  and  hence  has  had  to  suffer  the  indig- 
nity from  a  powerful  and  enlightened  nation,  whose  main 
precept  is  'Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  (Applause.),  and 
whose  missionaries  were  living  and  traveling  in  China  at  the 
very  time  that  Act  was  carried,  preaching  the  gospel  of  hon- 
esty and  integrity,  without  hindrance  or  molestation.  What 
a  travesty,  I  say,  of  Christian  civilization  is  this!  And  are 
we  now  to  be  asked  to  perpetuate  this  wrong-doing  by  re- 
enacting  this  Exclusion  Act?  'Let  it  be  just.  Let  there  be 
no  unfair  advantage  on  either  side.' 

"But  how  came  so  many  of  the  Chinese  laboring  class  to 
land  on  these  shores?  We  all  know  that  they  came,  as  the 
Consul  has  said  quite  recently,  in  answer  to  the  call  for 
laborers,  chiefly  to  build  the  great  railways  that  span  this 
continent  and  of  which  we  are  now  justly  proud,  and  which 
tend  greatly  to  the  wealth  and  strength  of  the  American 
nation.  They  came  here  quite  as  much,  if  not  more,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  mechanic,  engineer,  and  others,  than  for  their 
own  benfit.  Every  means  was  used  to  induce  them  to  come  by 
the  tens  of  thousands ;  and  then,  when  this  heavy  work,  which 
no  one  else  would  or  could  undertake,  was  finished,  they  scat- 
tered themselves  over  the  country  to  find  other  employment. 
Were  they  to  blame  for  this?  Were  their  families  and  friends 
doing  wrong  in  following  them  from  China  and  doing  a  good, 
honest  day 's  work  for  the  best  wages  that  American  employers 
would  pay  them? 

"And  why,  I  would  ask,  is  the  charge  true  that  they  work 
for  low  wages,  if  it  is  not  because  of  the  cupidity  of  American 
employers,  who  take  advantage  of  their  poverty  (Applause.), 
and  will  not  pay  any  more?  For  years  they  came  by  invita- 
tion. The  treaty  allowed  them  to  come  in  unlimited  numbers, 
just  as  Americans  went  to  China— although,  in  their  case, 
probably,  they  were  not  invited,  and  still  more,  they  were  not 
wanted.  (Laughter.) 

"When  once  it  was  supposed  that  the  presence  of  so  many 
Chinese  in  America  was  injurious,  and  it  was  thought  desi- 
rable to  prevent  any  more  from  coming,  the  first  thing  that 
ought  to  have  been  done  was  for  our  President  to  lay  the 
matter  fairly  and  squarely  before  the  Chinese  Government, 
and  to  propose  new  arrangements  or  modifications  of  the 
treaty  for  discussion,  or  for  acceptance;  to  propose,  for  in- 

165 


stance,  to  limit  the  number  of  Chinese  immigrants  per  annum 
for  a  certain  number  of  years,  during  which  immigration 
should  be  diminished  or  restricted,  or  a  reasonable  landing 
fee  charged.  All  these  would  have  been  proposals  perfectly 
in  order,  provided,  of  course,  the  Chinese  Government  was 
represented  and  perfectly  free  to  refuse  or  to  accept  such 
modifications  of  the  treaty.  Chinese  consent,  once  freely 
given,  and  the  treaty  modified  accordingly,  there  could  have 
been  no  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese  laborer  when 
not  allowed  to  land,  and  America,  as  well  as  China,  would  have 
kept  faith,  as  the  Chinese  call  it.  But  such  a  straightforward 
and  polite  method  of  procedure  was,  perhaps,  too  slow  and  too 
troublesome;  at  any  rate  it  did  not  suit  the  faction  that  rushed 
the  Geary  Act  with  such  unseemly  haste,  I  may  call  it,  through 
Congress.  What  did  they  care  about  the  treaty,  the  Chinese, 
or  the  rights  of  the  Chinese  people?  The  free  operation  of  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand  was  not  to  be  allowed  in  future  to 
decide  the  number  of  Chinese  who  should  come  to  America. 
No  amount  of  reasoning  has  since  sufficed  to  show  that  faction 
the  wrongfulness  of  the  Act.  The  near  approach  of  the 
expiration  of  its  present  term  has  led  to  an  enormous  outcry 
against  Chinese  immigration  that  is  now  going  on  and  clamor- 
ing for  the  re-enactment  of  that  illegal  experiment.  The  fact 
that  it  is  contrary  to  an  existing  treaty  and  an  arbitrary  ex- 
ercise of  power  over  a  weak  nation  is,  I  am  willing  to  believe, 
perhaps  unknown  to  a  majority  of  its  advocates,  who  are 
merely,  I  will  say,  tools  in  the  hands  of  those  who  ought  to 
know  better.  (Laughter  and  Applause.)  there  are  none  so 
blind  as  those  who  will  not  see.  Therefore,  for  this  reason, 
in  the  first  place,  I  am  entirely  opposed  to  the  re-enactment  of 
the  Exclusion  Act  as  it  now  stands,  unapproved  by  the  Chi- 
nese Government. 

"I  could  give  you  many  more  reasons,  but  will  confine 
myself  to  a  very  important  one,  which  is  the  injurious  effect 
the  re-enactment  of  this  Act  will  be  certain  to  have  upon  our 
rapidly  growing  commerce  with  China.  To  once  more  brand 
ourselves  as  treaty  breakers,  to  stand  before  the  whole  civilized 
world  as  having  lost  self  respect,  and  not  to  be  depended  on 
for  the  fulfillment  of  promises  will  certainly  not  help  us  in 
obtaining  and  retaining  the  respect  and  the  good  will  of  the 
Chinese  nation,  and  especially  of  the  merchants.  Contracts 

1 66 


and  orders  to  supply  large  quantities  of  goods  will  undoubt- 
edly pass  away  from  us,  as  they  are  now  doing,  into  other 
hands.  This  Exclusion  Act  is  a  very  sore  point,  not  only 
among  the  manufacturers,  who  are  the  principal  supporters, 
but  also  among  the  other  merchants  and  high  officials  all 
over  the  empire,  ft  is  a  favorite  theme  with  the  Chinese  news- 
papers, as  you  will  find  if  you  will  read  the  local  newspapers 
in  Chinese.  The  Chinese  student,  merchant  or  traveler  is 
indignant  at  the  rough  treatment  received  by  his  race  on  arri- 
val at  the  Mail  Dock,  through  the  Exclusion  Act,  and  even 
when  his  certificate  is  in  proper  order;  and  especially  when 
he  sees  the  low  class  of  Japanese  laborer  walk  quietly  off  the 
ship,  without  any  detention  or  difficulty,  like  any  other  for- 
eigner. The  treatment  of  the  laboring  or  servant  class  Chi- 
nese passengers  in  the  Mail  Dock  detention  sheds  must  be 
seen  to  be  believed. 

' 'As  an  instance  of  the  high  feeling  of  the  high  officials 
of  the  Chinese,  let  us  hear  what  the  late  Li  Hung  Chang  had 
to  say  in  private  conversation  with  Dr.  Martin,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  at  Peking.  The  venerable  doctor,  in 
his  work  says:  'The  only  disagreeable  feature  in  our  meeting 
was,  that  the  Chinese  Exclusion  bill  having  newly  become  law 
he  was  full  of  bitterness  against  my  country,  venting  his  wrath 
the  more  freely  as  he  considered  me  somewhat  in  the  light 
of  a  Chinese  official.  He  dwelt  on  the  subject  at  more  length, 
because  he  desired  me  to  act  as  a  sort  of  an  envoy  to  represent 
the  feelings  of  his  government  to  the  President  and  people  of 
the  United  States.  It  was  not  the  act  of  exclusion,  so  much 
as  the  manner  of  it  that  roused  his  ire.  Its  passage  in  viola- 
tion of  a  previous  stipulation,  was  in  bad  faith.  That  this 
was  done  while  a  newly  signed  treaty  was  under  consideration, 
in  which  China  took  the  initiative  by  agreeing  to  try  to  stop 
immigration  was  offensive  to  say  the  least ;  while  the  fact  that 
for  political  effect  it  was  rushed  through  on  the  eve  of  election 
gave  him  a  poor  opinion  of  our  form  of  government.  He 
went  on  to  say,  'What  would  you  think  if  I  should  expel  all 
of  your  missionaries ?'  'I  should  think/  I  replied,  'that  you 
were  turning  your  arms  against  your  best  friends.  I  should 
also  say  that  you  were  violating  a  precept  of  Confucius,  which 
forbids  you  to  vent  your  displeasure  on  the  unoffending.' 
He  laughed  and  said,  'I  have  no  intention  of  doing  anything 

167 


of  this  kind,  and  only  spoke  of  it,  as  you  know,  for  the  sake 
of  argument.  The  missionaries  are  good  men,  I  know.  But 
your  code  of  morals  is  defective,  as  it  reems  to  me,  in  one 
point,  it  lays  too  much  stress  on  charity,  and  too  little  on 
justice. '  In  letting  fly  this  Parthian  arruw  he  meant  that  he 
would  like  a  little  less  zeal  for  missions,  and  a  little  more  re- 
spect for  treaty  compacts.'  (Laughter  and  Applause.) 

' '  I  could  repeat  similiar  conversations  of  my  own  with  high 
Chinese  officials  and  wealthy  merchants  and  Chinese  people, 
but  I  will  only  just  refer  to  an  instance  which  came  under 
my  own  personal  observation  recently.  The  son  of  one  of  the 
oldest  merchants  in  Shanghai  was  placed  under  my  care  last 
year  to  bring  to  California  for  education.  Much  to  his  disgust 
he  was  detained  nearly  two  days  on  board  the  ship  at  the 
Mail  Dock,  although  his  papers  were  all  in  perfect  order. 
When  I  returned  from  my  vacation  to  China  this  year,  he 
went  to  the  Mail  Dock  to  meet  and  welcome  me.  He  became  an 
object  of  suspicion,  probably  being  supposed  by  the  police 
to  have  escaped  from  the  ship  or  from  .the  detention  shed. 
It  was  not  until  he  found  some  one  who  could  answer  for  him 
that  he  was  allowed  to  enter  at  all.  He  declared  afterwards 
that  he  would  not  live  in  such  a  country  longer  than  he  could 
help,  and  he  now  goes  East  with  a  view  to  finishing  his  educa- 
tion in  England.  He  has  written  to  China  to  advise  all  his 
friends,  both  mercantile  and  official,  to  have  nothing  more  to 
rlo  with  America  or  Americans. 

' '  I  think  the  passing  of  the  Exclusion  Act  to  extend  through 
another  period  of  years  would  be  nothing  short  of  a  commer- 
cial disaster.  We  have,  in  the  Chinese  opportunities,  the  very 
best  for  commercial  development,  and  to  shut  our  doors  to 
them  is  merely  to  yield  to  the  blind  antagonism  of  the  labor 
unions  which,  as  you  all  know,  are  at  the  bottom  of  this  anti- 
Chinese  movement. 

"What  ,then,  shall  we  ask,  ought  to  be  done?  I  answer, 
first,  carefully  examine  into  the  facts  of  the  case  as  to  whether 
the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese  is  deemed  desirable  by  the  major- 
ity of  the  responsible  and  thinking  part  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  either  absolutely  or  in  a  modified  form;  and, 
secondly,  whatever  conclusion  we  arrive  at,  let  it  be  placed 
before  the  Chinese  government  for  approval  or  for  criticism. 
When  a  perfect  understanding  is  arrived  at  on  both  sides  it 

1 68 


might  not  be  a  very  difficult  thine:,  after  all,  to  pet  an  en- 
tirely now  act  passed  carrying  the  understanding  into  effect. 
No  one  could  then  complain.  Whatever  form  of  exclusion 
might  be  agreed  upon,  China  would  also  endeavor  to  carry  out. 
especially  if  all  offenders  were  sent  back  to  China  for  punish- 
ment. Let  China  be  made  responsible  and  manage  the  matter 
m  her  own  way  and  of  her  own  free  will,  and  there  will  be 
very  little  cause  for  future  complaint. 

"But  now  comes  a  crucial  question:  is  this  Chinese  immi- 
gration really  injurious  to  the  United  States?  Many  and 
specious  are  the  reasons  that  are  adduced  to  show  that  it  is. 
Some  of  these  reasons  that  we  have  heard  to-night  have  the 
ring  of  truth  and  honesty  in  them,  but  others  are  so  short- 
sighted as  to  be  unworthy  of  the  serious  attention  of  those 
having  any  pretense  to  a  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  poli- 
tical economy.  They  are  simply  bubbles  that  have  been  blown 
for  a  special  purpose.  Time  will  only  allow  me  to  prick  just 
one  or  two  of  these  bubbles.  (Laughter.) 

"In  the  first  place,  we  are  told  that  if  we  let  down  the 
barriers  for  the  Chinese  laborers  to  enter  and  flood  the  coun- 
try they  will  pour  in  like  the  waters  of  a  deluge,  there  being 
four  hundred  millions  of  people  there.  But  when  you  come 
down  to  enquire  where  each  of  the  Chinese  that  are  already 
here  come  from,  it  is  found  that  they  are  all  from  a  small 
district  near  the  city  of  Canton.  No  Chinese  from  other  places 
could  settle  here,  because  they  would  have  no  foothold;  they 
would  have  no  friends.  That  particular  locality  has  the 
monopoly  here;  and  its  representatives  are  already  divided 
into  two  factions,  as  you  know,  the  Sam  Yups  and  the  See 
Yups,  but  though  continually  engaged  in  contentions  among 
themselves,  they  are  united  solidly  against  people  from  other 
places.  The  population  of  that  small  and  chiefly  agricultural 
district  is  not  more  than  half  a  million  at  the  very  highest  esti- 
mate. Reckoning  that  one  out  of  every  family  of  ten  persons 
would  be  in  a  position  to  come  to  America,  this  wou"ld  give 
fifty  thousand  that  are  eligible  or  likely  to  come,  if  they  all 
came  at  once,  that  would  be,  say  half  as  many  again  as  are  here 
already.  But  it  is  certain  that  but  comparatively  few  of  the 
eligible  ones  would  come.  Fancy  California,  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  powerful  states  in  the  Union,  saying  that 
she  is  afraid  of  being  turned  out  of  house  and  home,  when  it« 

169 


could  only  be  by  a  mere  handful  of  half-starved,  uneducated 
but  hardworking  Chinese.  We  might  as  well  be  a  little  more 
consistent,  and  suppose  that  the  whole  forty  million  Mongol- 
ians should  come,  men  women  and  children;  and  even  then, 
are  we  not  almost  one  hundred  millions  of  good,  strong 
American  people,  able  to  give  a  good  account  of  ourselves. 
The  fact  is,  we  haven't  half  as  much  reason  to  fear  the  Chi- 
nese as  we  have  to  fear  the  Africans,  the  Irish  or  Germans, 
whom  we  not  only  freely  admit  in  our  borders,  but  give  the 
privilege  of  citizenship. 

"Another  important  fact  in  this  connection  is  the  great 
change,  already  alluded  to  by  previous  speakers,  that  has 
taken  place  in  our  relations  with  China  since  the  Exclusion 
Act  first  passed ;  so  that  what  was  then  regarded  as  a  matter 
of  necessity  is  now  regarded  as  a  matter  of  minor  importance. 
With  fifty  thousand  Chinese  in  California,  the  wages  of  the 
white  laborers  are  now  higher  than  in  any  other  State  in  the 
Union,  and  they  .are  likely  to  remain  so.  Add  another  fifty 
thousand  of  Chinese,  if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  and  the 
white  laborer  would  still  maintain  this  advantage  simply  be- 
cause these  Chinese  would  do  new  work  and  enable  new  re- 
sources to  be  developed  that  cannot  now  be  developed  here, 
because  the  white  laborers  will  not  do  such  work,  or  have  so 
much  work  and  receive  such  exorbitant  wages  that  new  in- 
dustries which  might  add  greatly  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
still  have  to  remain  untouched.  Laborers  willing  to  do  good 
work  for  good  wages  that  will  leave  sufficient  profit  for  em- 
ployers are  called  for  all  over  the  State.  The  two  great  needs 
of  California  in  the  development  of  agriculture  and  the  in- 
dustries are  work  and  water.  Water  can  be  obtained  by 
artificial  means,  if  workmen  enough  can  be  obtained  to  put 
through  the  necessary  great  engineering  and  hydraulic  plans. 
Chinese  laborers  are  the  only  ones  available  for  new  under- 
takings. Ask  the  manufacturers,  the  orchardists,  the  canners, 
and  the  other  employers  about  the  Chinese,  and  hear  what 
they  would  like  in  this  connection.  I  have  asked  a  good  many 
of  them,  myself,  and  have  never  yet  received  one  answer  in 
favor  of  the  Exclusion  Act  being  continued,  at  any  rate  in  its 
present  form.  And  yet  these  are  the  people  that  form  the 
backbone  of  the  State.. 


T70 


"The  reason  why  Chinese  laborers  want  to  come  to  America, 
is  undoubtedly  because  they  are  all  so  desperately  poor  at 
home,  and  want  something  to  do  that  will  keep  themselves, 
as  well  as  their  wives  and  families  from  starving.  They  are 
great  producers,  and  add  greatly  to  the  localities  they  live  in, 
whether  in  America  or  in  China.  The  majority  are  too  ignor- 
ant to  do  anything  but  the  roughest  toil  in  China,  and  they 
cannot  even  get  that  to  do  there,  so  they  have  to  come  here. 
Give  them  education  over  there,  help  them  to  open  up  all  the 
natural  resources  of  their  own  country,  dispel  their  ignorance 
and  superstition  and  start  them  on  the  road  and  train  them  for 
civilization;  let  those  of  us  who  have  the  greatest  fear  of  the 
yellow  peril,  as  they  call  it,  become  the  greatest  contributors 
to  our  missionary  enterprises,  and  help  them  out.  (Laughter.) 
Send  an  invading  army  of  missionaries  to  that  part  of  China 
to  check  and  prevent  this  invasion  and  prepare  these  people 
for  our  civilization;  and  then,  instead  of  having  too  many  Chi- 
nese coming  to  California  to  find  work,  you  shall  find  the  Chi- 
nese that  are  here  soon  going  back  to  their  native  country  and 
enjoying  the  comforts  and  privileges  of  life  and  home. 

"In  the  second  place  there  are  those  who  compare  the  yel- 
low peril  in  America  with  the  difficulties  that  are  staring  us 
in  the  face  in  several  of  the  States  in  the  case  of  the  negro. 
They  argue  that  as  the  importation  of  the  negro  has  been  a 
most  expensive  experience  for  the  United  States,  so  it  will  be 
if  the  Chinese  are  allowed  to  enter  in  any  great  numbers. 
Pour  millions'  of  negroes,  they  say,  have  already  cost  the 
United  States  two  millions  of  lives  and  three  thousand  mil- 
lions of  money,  and  deep  national  humiliation.  They  have 
now  increased  to  six  or  seven  millions,  and  when  they  increase 
to  fifty  or  one  hundred  millions,  what  may  they  then  cost  us? 
A  race  war  has  already  set  in,  which  may  eventually  deluge 
the  whole  land  in  blood,  and  why,  then,  add  a  yellow  race 
difficulty  which  may  prove  even  worse  than  that  of  the  black? 

"Now,  we  must  remember  that  the  two  races  are  entirely 
different  and  their  consideration  must  be  on  entirely  different 
lines.  The  black  one  remembers  that  he  was  worked  under 
the  lash,  and  it  was  difficult  to  keep  him  from  running  away; 
the  other  works  for  the  highest  wages  he  can  obtain,  and  can 
hardly  be  driven  away.  The  one  can  be  taught  only  with  diffi- 
culty, although,  as  we  know,  there  are  many  brilliant  excep- 

171 


tions ;  the  other  goes  readily  at  it  and  will  easily  teach  himself 
what  is  required  in  the  way  of  work.  One  cost  us  five  hundred 
dollars  a  man ;  the  other  cost  nothing,  and  would  even  be  will- 
ing to  pay  a  landing  fee  for  the  privilege  of  being  allowed  to 
come.  We  all  know  that  all  efforts  to  improve  races  of  low 
development  and  will  never  retrograde,  but  will  gradually  as- 
similate. The  emancipated  slaves  of  the  United  States,  after 
all,  have  not,  and  never  can  have,  as  a  whole,  the  development 
essential  to  inherited  culture.  But  the  Chinese  have  it,  and 
can  improve  upon  it  as  fast  as  opportunities  come  in  their 
way.  Yet  these  millions  of  low,  ignorant,  emancipated  negroes 
have  been  given  the  privileges  of  the  ballot  since  the  cry  was 
first  raised  in  California  to  drive  out  the  Chinese.  Among 
Christian  nations  the  Chinaman  is  hated  for  his  virtues;  he 
is  not  hated  for  his  vices.  It  is  because  he  is  industrious,  does 
not  interfere  between  us,  generally,  is  saving  of  his  earnings, 
temperate,  little  given  to  extravagance,  and  of  quiet  demeanor 
that  he  is  insulted  and  driven  forth.  Though  a  servant,  he 
is  not  a  slave.  He  indulges  in  no  sentiment,  and  asks  for  no 
sympathy.  Night  work  and  day  work  are  alike  to  him,  and 
everywhere  he  makes  himself  equally  at  home.  The  great 
difficulty  with  the  Chinaman— and  it  is  a  great  difficulty— is 
the  color  of  his  skin.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
allows  the  white  and  the  black  to  inherit  all  things,  but  not 
the  yellow,  although  the  yellow  may  be  the  superior,  physi- 
cally, morally  and  intellectually. 

"It  is  said  that  the  Chinese  hold  themselves  aloof,  and  will 
not  mix  with  white  people,  nor  confirm  to  their  customs.  We 
have  heard  that  said  this  evening.  Perhaps  it  may  be  in  some 
respects,  and  in  some  cases  that  they  have  too  much  self  re- 
spect. (Laughter.)  America  has  much  to  fear  from  the  negro 
race,  both  now  and  in  the  future,  but  from  the  Chinese  she 
need  fear  nothing ;  we  hear  that  the  Chinese  are  incapable  of 
assimilation  into  the  body  politic,  strangers,  as  we  heard  to- 
night, to  our  civilization,  out  of  sympathy  with  our  aspira- 
tions, unfit  for  our  free  institutions,  and  unadapted  in  almost 
everything  for  citizenship.  Then  would  it  not  be  better  for 
us,  if  all  these  things  were  true  in  regard  to  the  refuse  popula- 
tion of  Europe  and  the  negro  race  that  we  have  absorbed  into 
the  very  life  blood  of  our  nation,  if  we  can  get  the  Chinese 
to  do  our  rough  work  for  us,  costing  nothing,  causing  no 

172 


trouble,  creating  no  responsibilities— is  it  not  better  that  we 
should  encourage  them  to  live  with  us,  even  as  a  separate  race, 
and  not  curse,  but  rejoice,  over  their  inability  to  assimilate 
with  us?  That  inability  to  amalgamate  with  us  is,  perhaps, 
one  of  the  best  reasons  why  we  should  encourage  them  to  come 
here. 

"But  I  have  already  exceeded  the  time  -allotted,  and  there- 
fore must  not  say  more  on  this  point.  I  will,  therefore,  con- 
clude in  some  of  the  words  of  a  letter  of  our  Californian  poet, 
Joaquin  Miller,  which  were  read  in  Congress  when  the  Exclu- 
sion Act  was  under  discussion.  Among  other  things  he  wrote : 

"  'Can  the  United  States  afford  to  fear  these  patient  and 
simple  people  ?  They  will  not  harm  us ;  they  are  not  strikers, 
rioters  and  burners,  of  cities.  This  Bill  must  not  become  a  law. 
It  is  pitiful  to  see  these  great  minds,  those  who  are  supporting 
it,  prostituted  to  such  selfish  ends.  They  pay  a  very  poor 
compliment  to  the  intelligence  of  the  people  of  the  Pacific 
Coast.  No,'  he  goes  on  to  say,  'the  Creator  of  us  all  opened 
the  Golden  Gate  to  the  whole  wide  world ;  let  no  man  attempt 
to  shut  it  in  the  face  of  his  fellow-men. ' 

* '  How  far  Joaquin  Miller  was  right  I  leave  to  you  to  judge 
for  yourselves.  And  now  I  will  say  once  more,  if  you  must 
have  the  Exclusion  Act,  gentlemen,  let  it  be  just.  Let  there 
be  no  unfair  advantage  on  either  side."  (Applause.) 

After  reading  the  scholarly  and  convincing  address  of  Dr. 
Fryer,  I  now  present  the  reader  with  the  rough  notes  of  a 
portion  of  a  short  address  delivered  by  Dr.  David  Starr  Jor- 
dan, President  of  the  Leland  Standford,  Jr.  University,  on  the 
same  occasion. 

TlTose  who  have  read  the  works  of  Dr.  Jordan  will  recognize 
in  the  brief  remarks  herewith  printed  the  impartial  and  scien- 
tific investigator.  For  that  reason  his  address,  though  brief, 
is  of  the  greater  value : 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Unitarian  Club:  I  appear  here  to- 
night not  as  a  debater,  but  as  a  disciple  of  the  strenuous  life. 
(Applause  and  Laughter.)  I  have  resisted  with  all  the 
strenuosity  that  I  could  possibly  bring  to  bear  the  desire  of 
your  President  that  I  should  make  an  exhibition  of  myself  on 
a  subject  on  which  the  other  gentlemen  who  have  now  spoken 
know  so  much  more  than  I  do.  I  have  learned  from  experience 
that  when  a  poker  is  red  hot  at  both  ends  it  is  a  difficult  thins: 

'73 


to  handle  (Laughter.),  and  if  I  should  by  any  chance  say  any- 
thing that  would  appear  to  be  on  one  side  more  than  on  the 
other  you  will  understand  of  course  that  I  regard  the  side  for 
which  I  speak  as  the  weaker  side. 

"I  would  not  lay  one  single  straw  in  the  way  of  those  of 
my  friends— and  there  are  a  great  many  of  them— who  are 
trying  to  protect  California  from  a  real  evil,  that  in  the  con- 
gestion within  her  borders  of  a  race  or  particular  people 
which  if  diffused  throughout  the  United  States  would  cer- 
tainly not  inflict  any  very  great  evil,  but  which  if  gathered 
in  one  American  city  or  State  will  be  very  decidedly  a  nuis- 
ance. 

"I  do  not  myself  see  any  industrial  evil  in  the  coming  of 
the  Chinese.  I  think  that  there  are  very  extensive  forms 
of  industry  that  absolutely  depend  upon  just  that  kind  of 
labor.  An  industry  has  been  spoken  of  tonight,  that  of  can- 
ning salmon.  I  know  something  about  that.  I  do  not  see  how 
that  great  industry  could  get  along  with  any  other  kind  of 
labor  than  Chinese  or  something  similar  to  that.  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  great  number  of  people  would  permanently 
be  driven  out  of  work  by  it.  I  think  the  tendency  would  be 
on  the  whole  rather  the  other  way  if  we  had  larger  numbers 
of  Chinese  here  than  we  have  now.  I  may  be  mistaken  there. 
It  is  a  very  difficult  subject.  Statistics  do  not  prove  anything 
unless  you  have  a  great  many  of  them  and  have  studied  them 
very  thoroughly  and  have  had  them  examined  by  somebody 
who  is  an  expert.  It  does  seem  to  me  that  there  are  social 
and  political  evils  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  body  of 
people  who  are  not  voters.  I  think  we  would  find  that  if  the 
Chinese  were  voters  as  the  Irishman  and  the  German  and  the 
Frenchman,  ttye  Englishman  and  the  Italian,  and  those  who 
come  from  other  countries  are,  we  should  find  that  they  would 
assimilate  a  great  deal  more  rapidly  than  they  do  now.  We 
should  find  that  a  great  many  of  us  would  be  entirely  willing 
to  assimilate  with  them.  (Laughter.) 

"It  seems  to  me  that,  while  Chinese  labor  may  be  of  a  good 
deal  of  advantage  to  us,  California  is  not  yet  ready  for  the 
blessings  of  unlimited  Chinese  labor.  I  was  in  San  Francisco 
twenty-one  years  ago.  I  was  here  when  Denis  Kearney  and 
other  gentlemen  spoke  on  soap  boxes.  They  were  unassimila- 
tive  gentlemen,  with  unassimilable  names  (laughter),  and  one 

174 


thing  was  certain,  that  they  never  knew  what  had  been  in 
those  boxes.  (Great  laughter.)  I  remember  that  in  those 
days,  very  justly,  under  the  wise  lead  of  the  Mayor  of  that 
time,  Chinatown  was  condemned  as  an  unsanitary  abomina- 
tion, just  as  it  ought  to  have  been  condemned.  We  ought  to  br 
able  to  teach  these  people  something  of  sanitation  and  to 
force  them  to  abide  by  our  lessons.  But  the  influence  of 
money,  I  suppose,  of  wealthy  men,  merchants  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, the  influence  of  politics,  and  one  thing  and  another, 
caused  Chinatown  to  be  simply  condemned,  and  then  to  go 
along  just  as  it  was  before  (laughter),  and  things  have  gone 
on  in  that  way  to  this  day.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  City  of 
San  Francisco  ought  to  allow  any  people,  Chinamen,  Italians, 
Greeks,— any  kind-  of  people— to  crowd  together  in  the  fash- 
ion in  which  the  people  live  in  Chinatown.  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  Chinese  are  any  more  to  blame  for  that  than  we  are ; 
it  does  not,  at  least,  appear  to  me  so.  I  have  read  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  operations  of  the  Boxers  in  China,  and  I 
have  seen  just  such  operations  myself  twenty-one  years  ago 
in  San  Francisco  on  the  part  of  our  California  Boxers.  It  is 
just  the  same  thing  one  way  or  the  other,  and  it  is  just  as 
much  the  duty  of  one  government  to  keep  the  one  sort  of 
irregularity  down  as  it  is  the  duty  of  the  other.  Nations  must 
give  and  take. 

"I  am  not  sure  what  we  ought  to  do.  I  am  not  sure  that 
the  wisest  thing  is  not  to  act  along  the  line  and  spirit  of  the 
Geary  Act  until  we  can  see  our  way  to  something  better.  I 
am  not  ready  to  take  sides  on  that  question.  I  do  feel  with 
Dr.  Fryer,  who  so  eloquently  says  that  the  Geary  Act  was  not 
carried  out  in  the  way  in  which  it  ought  to  have  been  carried 
out.  It  was  not  carried  out  as  though  China  were  a  nation 
it  was  the  treatment  of  China  as  though  she  were  not  a  nation 
at  all. 

"Some  things  have  happened  in  these  years,  and  one  thing 
is  the  decision  in  regard  to  the  future  that  we  have  made. 
Decisions  are  made  lasting  a  long  time,  and  it  is  the  part  of 
statesmanship  to  recognize  these  decisions  when  they  are  made 
and  to  adjust  our  affairs  to  a  great  extent  with  them.  I  was 
not  myself  riding  on  the  bandwagon  when  the  decision  was 
made,  but  it  was  to  the  general  effect  that  two  things  must  go, 
the  Exclusion  Act  and  the  Protective  Tariff.  And  when  we 

175 


decided  to  extend  our  sovereignty  as  well  as  our  jurisdiction 
over  the  Philippine  Islands  it  was  the  death-knell  of  the 
Protective  Tariff,  it  was  the  death-knell  of  all  Exclusion  Acts 
of  any  kind  except  as  they  may  apply,  as  Mr.  Geary  has  so 
eloquently  suggested,  as  they  may  apply  to  all  nations  alike. 
It  means  that  they  must  go  absolutely ;  that  we  must  treat  the 
nations  of  the  Orient  exactly  as  we  treat  the  nations  of 
Europe,  whatever  that  way  may  be.  (Applause.) 

"It  has  been  said  tonight  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
sensitiveness  on  this  subject.  I  remember  a  gentleman  in 
Japan  saying  to  me,  or  rather  writing  that  certain  nations, 
imitating  the  United  States,  have  closed  their  doors  in  the 
face  of  China  in  an  insulting  way.  That  is  just  about  the 
feeling  not  only  that  China  has,  but  that  all  the  nations  over 
there  have.  I  was  told  by  a  high  official  in  Japan  that  the 
Japanese  Government  would  be  ready  to  do  anything  that 
we  might  ask  in  a  dignified  and  quiet  way  in  regard  to  the 
keeping  from  America  of  Japanese  laborers;  if  there  is  any 
si  ass  that  we  do  not  want  in  America  just  mention  it  quietly 
and  privately  and  that  class  will  be  kept  at  home.  I  was  told 
at  the  same  time  that  Japan  would  be  prepared  to  fight  to  the 
death  any  attempt  to  enforce  against  her  without  her  consent 
a  law  like  that  with  which  we  have  insulted  China.  We  have 
to  face  the  fact  that  our  commerce  in  the  Orient  goes  to  the 
winds  if  we  attempt  to  insult  the  nation  of  Japan  by  extending 
this  act  to  her.  There  is  not  quite  as  good  reason,  but  very 
nearly  the  same  reason,  for  excluding  Japanese  laborers  that 
there  is  for  excluding  Chinese,  but  we  dare  not  exclude  Japan- 
ese laborers  unless  we  exclude  the  laborers  of  Europe  also, 
for  the  reason  that  Japan  is  a  nation,  and  we  excluded  Chinese 
because  China  is  not  a  nation  and  cannot  help  herself.  China 
is  a  nation  in  the  sense  of  being  able  to  govern  herself,  but 
she  had  no  foreign  policy,  she  did  not  know  that  there  were 
any  foreign  countries.  It  was  generally  believed,  I  suppose, 
in  China  that  all  those  other  countries  were  simply  rocky 
islands,  and  that  China  was  the  whole  world  herself.  And 
that  she  did  not  need  to  have  a  foreign  policy  in  regard  to 
those  rocky  islands.  But  when  China  becomes  a  nation  she 
will  have  to  be  treated  just  as  we  treat  Germany,  England. 
Italy,  France  and  other  nations.  It  is  for  our  interest  com- 
mercially and  industrially  that  China  should  become  a  nation, 

176 


that  she  could  get  control  of  her  affairs  and  be  responsible  for 
her  own  actions.  China  is  not  a  yellow  peril,  or  will  not  be 
when  the  people  have  training,  when  they  have  our  science, 
when  they  can  take  care  of  themselves  at  home,  when  they 
3an  control  their  own  affairs,  when  China  can  become  a  self- 
respecting  nation  made  up  of  people  who  can  respect  them- 
selves and  take  care  of  themselves.  She  is  a  yellow  peril  when 
she  is  overrun  and  when  her  property  is  stolen  by  European 
nations ;  when  her  people  are  murdered  wantonly  just  for  the 
simple  purpose  of  showing  that  European  firearms  are  more 
effective  than  Chinese  firearms.  When  that  sort  of  thing 
comes  China  will  be  a  yellow  peril.  Just  so  long  as  super- 
stition reigns  there  in  place  of  science  the  yellow  peril  condi- 
tion will  exist.  Th3y  have  in  Singapore  a  poet,  a  sort  of 
Rudyard  Kipling,  turned  loose,  and  he  has  used  these  words 
of  the  Chinaman :  '  Give  him  the  chance  to  do  at  home  that 
he  makes  for  himself  elsewhere,  and  the  star  of  the  jelly-fish 
nation  with  others  will  shine  as  far.'  :  (Applause.) 

The  statement  of  Mr.  Erastus  Brainerd  of  Seattle,  presented 
to  the  57th  Congress  in  1902,  contains  a  convincing  argument 
to  any  but  the  most  prejudiced  minds.  He  says  in  part: 

"The  essential  argument  of  those  who  favor  Chinese  exclu- 
sion is  fairly  well  stated  in  a  communication  from  the  San 
Francisco  Democratic  Board  of  Supervisors.  They  say: 
'  Should  the  bars  be  let  down  an  enormous  immigration  of 
Chinese  coolies  would  inundate  the  country  and  overwhelm 
its  free  working  population/ 

' '  This  is  familiar.  So  it  was  argued  by  the  Denis  Kearneys 
and  the  Phelans  of  Roman  politics ;  yet  Italy  is  peopled  today 
with  men  of  Latin,  not  Teutonic,  stock,  and  the  influence  of 
Roman  civilization  is  more  clearly  among  the  Germans  than 
vice  versa.  In  the  middle  ages  the  Huns  ' threatened'  all 
Europe.  Yet  today  the  Huns  seem  to  be  pretty  well  confined 
to  their  natice  Carpathians  or  the  Pennsylvania  coal  fields. 
It  is  fresh  within  our  knowledge  that  the  agitation  for  the 
restriction  of  the  flood  of  Irish  immigration  lead  to  Know- 
Kriothings  and  signs  of  'No  Irish  need  apply'.  But  it  is  un- 
necessary to  multiply  precedent.  The  argument  merely  begs 
the  question.  It  states  as  the  truth  something  not  known  to  be 
either  true  or  false. 

"How  does  any  one— how  can  any  one— know  to  a  moderate 

177 


probability,  not  to  say  a  reasonable  certainty,  that  failure 
to  re-enact  the  Geary  law  will  'inundate'  or  'overwhelm'  us 
with  Chinese  ?  If  there  were  no  such  law  it  is  not  certain  that 
we  would  be  'inundated',  and  if  the  Geary  law  be  not  re- 
enacted  another  law  can  be,  if  necessary.  No  law  was  ever 
known  to  be  the  best,  the  perfect  law.  The  Geary  law  is  one 
of  the  worst. 

"The  Chinese  have  free  access  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  but 
have  not  inundated  it.  They  have  been  specially  invited  to 
Mexico,  but  they  have  not  overwhelmed  the  descendants  of  the 
Montezumas.  It  is  said,  of  course,  that  the  wages  of  labor 
and  conditions  of  life  are  less  alluring  elsewhere  to  the  Chi- 
nese ;  that  this  country  is  nearer  and  all  that  makes  life  more 
desirable  to  a  Chinaman  is  found  here  to  a  greater  degree 
than  elsewhere.  Be  it  so.  When  the  United  States  was  open 
to  them  they  did  not  inundate  or  overwhelm  the  Pacific  Coast. 

"With  this  country  closed  hermetically,  as  it  has  been  in 
theory  for  twenty  years  past,  it  is  equally  true  and  equally 
logical  to  assume  that  the  Chinese  would  overwhelm  the  next 
best  country.  Wages  and  the  conditions  of  labor  in  Mexico, 
in  Canada,  in  most  of  the  other  countries  bordering  on  the 
Pacific  side  of  the  American  continent,  are  so  much  higher 
than  those  of  China,  that  it  seems  reasonable  to  assume  that 
the  Chinese  would  inundate  and  overwhelm  those  countries, 
but  they  have  not.  Now  it  happens  to  be  true  that  the  coun- 
tries to  which  the  Chinese  have  gone  in  the  greatest  numbers 
are  those  in  which  wages  and  living  are  at  nearly  as  low  a 
standard  as  in  China  itself,  in  Borneo,  in  the  Philippines,  in 
Java,  in  the  Dutch  and  English  oriental  colonies.  If  the 
Chinese  is  an  exterminating  race,  if  it  is  to  drown  out  and 
submerge  working  people,  one  would  think  that  it  would  long 
since  have  overwhelmed  the  Malay. 

"China  has  had  a  colony  in  Borneo  since  1100  B.  C.,— for 
three  thousand  years— and  the  Malay  still  thrives.  Thus  far, 
and  in  other  nations,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  overwhelmed 
and  inundated  the  people  among  whom  they  have  gone, 
whether  those  people  were  free  or  servile.  The  Chinese  have 
no  artisans  skilled  as  ours  are,  none  like  our  iron  and  steel 
workers,  machinists,  carpenters,  bricklayers,  masons,  and  the 
like.  With  us  those  trades  are  so  highly  organized  that  they 
already  practically  dictate  on  what  terms  a  white  man  shall 

178 


labor.  Surely  they  are  not  afraid  that  they  cannot  dictate 
to  the  yellow  man.  Is  it  likely  that  the  labor  unions  would 
yield  control  of  their  industries  to  the  Chinaman?  An  affirm- 
ative answer  would  be  a  shocking  confession  of  weakness  that 
no  union  man  is  likely  to  make.  The  *  danger'  is  more  to  un- 
skilled labor,  to  the  Indians  who  come  from  Alaska  to  pick 
hops,  to  the  field-hand,  the  ditch-digger,  the  road-builder,— 
a  class  of  labor  much  needed  on  this  coast,  and  in  which  there 
should  be  room  for  some  Chinese. 

"  'Non-assimilation'  is  one  of  the  favorite  arguments 
against  the  Chinese.  We  have  never  given  him  a  fair  chance 
to  assimilate.  Since  he  first  came  to  California,  in  1848,  he 
has  been  a  'damned  chink',  worse  than  the  'greaser',  the 
'dago',  or  the  'coon',  for  all  of  whom  the  free  and  intelligent 
workingman  seems  to  have  especial  contempt.  We  have  never 
welcomed  the  Chinaman  as  we  have  the  Arab,  the  Syrian,  the 
Lapp,  the  Parsee,  the  Hun,  or  the  Hindoo,  all  of  whom  are 
oriental  by  race  and  instinct  and  who  are  just  as  little  likely 
to  'assimilate'  as  the  Chinaman.  Yet  they  are  welcomed  here 
by  thousands  annually.  It  is  not  yet  denied,  I  believe,  that 
the  Chinaman  is  a  man— that  he  is  human.  In  fact,  he  is 
the  most  domestic  of  men.  Domesticity  is  inborn  and  inbred 
in  the  humblest  coolie.  The  family  and  its  integrity  is  the 
object  of  his  worship.  The  Chinaman  who  has  no  son  is  one 
accursed.  It  is  not  true  that  the  coolie  does  not  marry.  Any 
visitor  to  China  knows  better. 

"So  long  as  Czolgosz  can  attain  citizenship,  I  maintain 
that  a  Chinaman  who  can  attain  it  on  the  same  footing  would 
'assimilate'  better  than  a  Czolgosz— nay,  more,  that  the  aver- 
age Chinaman  is  a  more  desirable  addition  to  our  population 
than  the  average  Czech,  Slovak,  Wend  or  Levantine  who  come 
here  by  thousands.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  even  the  able 
tvalking  delegate  of  the  San  Francisco  Stevedores'  Union 
would  admit  that  he  could  not  expect  successfully  to  maintain 
that  the  thesis  that  the  wise  and  witty  Wu  is  not  worthy  of 
the  franchise  in  any  country.  What  applies  to  the  Wus  ap- 
plies, mutatis  mutandis,  to  any  of  his  countrymen. 

"The  vulgar  argument  that  the  Chinaman  is  dirty,  im- 
moral, clannish  and  what  not,  is  worth  little  consideration. 
The  standard  of  the  coolie  is  at  least  as  high  as  that  of  the 
cadet'  of  New  York.    He  is  as  cleanly  as  the  Hun.     He  has 

179 


his  share  and  no  more  of  human  weakness  and  frailty,  of  the 
sin  of  Adam  and  the  brand  of  Cain.  Even  the  honest  advo- 
cates of  Chinese  exclusion,  who  base  their  opposition  on  glit- 
tering generalities,  make  honorable  exceptions  of  individuals, 
and  it  is  the  individual  who  makes  the  race. 

"The  Burlingame  treaty  conferred  upon  China's  citizens  the 
right  of  voluntary  emigration  to  the  United  States  and  vice 
versa.  Out  of  400,000,000  Chinese  barely  100,000  came.  When 
the  San  Francisco  'Sand  Letters'  began  their  agitation  that 
the  'Chinese  must  go',  which  led  to  political  complications  on 
the  Pacific  Coast,  the  United  States  sought  to  abrogate  the 
Burlingame  treaty  and  conclude  a  new  one.  At  that  time  the 
Chinese  treaty  commissioners  voluntarily  proposed  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  should  regulate,  limit  or 
suspend  the  coming  of  Chinese  laborers  or  their  residence 
herein,  but  that  it  should  not  absolutely  prohibit  them.  The 
treaty  was  signed. 

"In  ethics,  in  morals,  the  anti-Chinese  do  not  have  a  leg  to 
Rtand  on.  If  the  argument  is  to  be  made  to  the  pocket,  surely 
the  material  argument  is  against  the  Geary  law. 

"  'Treat  the  Chinese,'  once  said  Hannibal  Hamlin,  Lin- 
coln's Vice-President,  'I  will  not  say  like  pagans,  because 
Confucious  would  shame  us  if  we  go  to  his  counsel  --  treat 
them  like  Christians  and  they  will  become  good  American  cit- 
izens. ' 

' '  It  may  not  yet  prove  desirable  to  make  citizens  out  of  all 
the  Chinese  coolies,  but  I  take  it  that  no  sensible  man  will  deny 
the  ability  of  the  United  States  to  negotiate  a  new  treaty  or 
to  make  a  new  law  which  will  remove  the  existing  stigma  from 
the  Chinaman  and  put  him  on  the  same  footing  as  other  Ori- 
entals if  he  wants  to  stop  there  and  shows  the  ability  to  keep 
his  footing,  yet  at  the  same  time  controlling,  limiting  and 
regulating  any  possible  'danger'  from  admitting  him. 

"I  have  intentionally  omitted  reference  to  the  real  need  of 
more  labor  on  this  coast,  Chinese  or  other.  I  imagine  that  the 
conservative  elements  will  soon  make  themselves  heard  on 
that  point. 

"What  the  cure  of  the  Geary  law  may  be  is  beyond  my 
province  to  suggest.  Take  the  question  from  the  field  of  pol- 
itical logrolling.  Put  it  on  the  higher,  cleaner,  cooler  field  of 
diplomacy,  of  statesmanship.  I  confidently  believe  that  all 

180 


the  opposing  and  varying  interests  of  the  Pacific  Coast  will 
not  suffer  if  the  matter  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  State 
Department. 

"  'Autres  temps,  autres  moeurs,'  says  the  French  proverb. 
There  are  other  times  on  the  Pacific  Coast  than  those  which 
led  to  the  Chinese  riots  of  the  eighties.  Let  us  have  another 
rule  for  our  relations  with  China.  For  instance,  the  Golden 
Rule.' 

"ERASTUS  BRAINERD." 

4 'Seattle,  January  30,  1902. " 

Taken  from  Senate  Report  7766,  part  2 ;  57th  Congress,  1st 
Session. 

And  for  that  reason  it  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  lay  before 
the  reader  the  statement  of  Simon  Wolfe  (Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Civil  and  Religious  Rights  of  the  Union  of 
American  Hebrew  Congregations) ,  which  was  made  before  the 
57th  Congress  in  1902. 

Mr.  Wolf's  paper  is  well  worthy  of  study,  and  mitigates  to 
a  great  degree  the  unfriendly  attitude  of  his  persecuting  co- 
religionists. The  following  is  a  part  of  Mr.  Wolf's  paper: 

"The  names  of  Gompers,  Gutstadt,  Golden,  Wolfe,  Saal- 
feld  and  others  indicates  that  those  who  hear  them  should 
remember  the  story  of  the  'Ghetto.'  And  that  the  time  is 
not  so  remote  when  their  co-religionists,  or  compatriots,  were 
appealing  to  the  civilized  world  for  smypathy  and  justice.  It 
is  utterly  repugnant  to  me  to  see  a  Hebrew  or  Hibernian  in 
the  ranks  of  those  who  persecute  and  ^proscribe  any  people. 

"Even  the  casual  reader  cannot  fail  to  notice  that  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  persecutors  of  the  Chinese  in  this  country  has 
entirely  changed.  The  men  who  now  ask  that  their  fellow- 
men  of  'tawny'  skin  be  denied  the  right  of  access  to  this 
gountry  are  mostly  Jews  and  Scandinavians.  Of  course, 
there  may  be  a  McCarthy  here  and  there,  for  the  reason  that 
I  have  explained  elsewhere.  But  a  glance  at  the  names  of 
the  new  leaders  of  exclusionist  will  show  their  racial  origin— 
if  that  be  the  correct  term  in  the  premises. 

"I  wish  to  state  that  I  have  had  as  my  personal  guest  for 
years  one  who  for  eleven  years  represented  our  country  in 
China  and  Japan,  a  Major-General  of  the  United  States  Army, 
General  Julius  Stahel,  and  he  has  told  me  time  and  again  that 

181 


the  conditions  which  have  been  painted  by  the  friends  of 
China  before  this  committee  are  absolutely  correct;  that  the 
relations  between  parents  and  children  are  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful sort;  that  the  young  have  the  highest  respect  for 
the  aged;  that  the  integrity  of  every  merchant  in  that  coun- 
try, even  among  European  financial  institutions,  is  beyond 
question. 

"They  are  human  like  the  rest.  The  Caucasian  has  no 
mortgage  on  the  vices.  The 'Asiatics  have  them  as  well  as 
ourselves ;  and  if  they  are  misunderstood  and  persecuted  they 
are  to  a  large  extent  persecuted  and  misunderstood  as  my  an- 
cestors were  in  the  Middle  Ages.  For  Buckle,  the  great  En- 
glish historian,  has  said  that  the  Jews  were  not  persecuted  on 
account  of  their  vices,  but  on  account  of  their  virtues.  They, 
also,  like  the  Chinese,  were  and  are,  sober,  industrious,  fru- 
gal, peace-loving  and  law-abiding.  They  also  loved  their 
children  and  showed  filial  respect  to  their  parents;  and  yet 
they  were  persecuted.  And  I,  standing  here  as,  in  a  meas- 
ure the  representative  of  my  people,  standing  here  as  an 
American  citizen  of  Jewish  faith,  will  not  let  this  opportunity 
pass  without  entering  my  solemn  protest  against  any  exclusion 
laws  aimed  at  any  race,  nationality  or  religion.  I  have  seen 
the  time,  and  it  is  not  quite  extinct  yet,  when  the  colored 
men  suffered  from  invidious  legislation. 

"I  have  seen  the  time  when  the  Know-Nothing  orgies  raged 
throughout  our  country,  and  the  Irish  and  Catholics  wer* 
tabooed.  And  I  will  not,  in  the  closing  hours  of  my  existence, 
see  a  condition  of  things  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  that 
sends  missionaries  to  China  and  thinks  the  Chinese  fit  to  be 
Christianized,  if  when  they  are  given  a  proper  chance  in  this 
country  they  could  become  civilized  and  assimilated. 

"The  charge  has  been  made  here  that  they  would  be  all- 
controlling.  What  a  magnificent  compliment  that  is  to  Amer- 
ican manhood  and  American  energy!  Look  at  Hongkong 
and  Singapore.  There  you  have  200,000  Chinamen  in  en.-h 
city  and  in  one  city  about  4,000  Englishmen  and  in  the  other 
3,000  Englishmen,  and  these  two  cities  to-day  are  as  much 
English  as  any  city  in  England  itself.  It  is  the  energy,  the 
intelligence,  the  indomitable  perseverence  of  the  Caucasians 
that  tells  every  time. 

"And  if  you  treat  the  Chinaman  with  the  same  regard,  the 

182 


aame  respect,  with  the  same  fairness  and  justice  with  which 
you  expect  them  to  treat  us  in  their  own  country,  there  can 
be  no  question  of  settling  this  exclusion  business  on  the  lino 
of  common  sense,  of  international  treaties,  and  pave  the  way 
for  the  greatest  commercial,  financial  and  industrial  results 
the  United  States  has  ever  had. 

"There  is  in  my  judgment  no  reason  or  necessity  for  any 
special  legislation  in  the  matter  of  the  Chinese  that  co^ild  not 
be  included  in  a  general  immigration  bill.  The  Itr,li:;ns,  the 
Lithuanians,  the  Austrians,  the  Germans,  the*  French,  the 
English,  the  Japanese,  the  Borneans,  the  Persians,  and  everj 
nationality  and  race  in  the  world,  are  included  in  the  general 
immigration  law,  save  and  except  the  Chinese,  and  for  no 
possible  reason  except  for  the  hue  and  cry  caused  by  an  ut- 
ter ignorance  of  the  facts  and  entire  disregard  for  the  honor 
and  integrity  of  the  nation's  plighted  faith  in  its  treaties.  No 
man,  loving  his  country,  is  anxious  for  the  gates  to  be  thrown 
wide  open  to  any  class  of  immigrants.  No  one  who  aps  studied 
the  history  of  nations  can  be  in  favor  of  wholesale  cool  if  labor. 
There  is  a  golden  middle  which  must  at  all  times  !>c  o'>s<»r«  ( d. 
We  do  need  in  this  country  a  certain  percentage  of  Chinese 
immigration.  The  South  needs  the  agriculturists,  such  as 
the  Chinese  have  ever  been.  The  whole  country  needs  do- 
mestic help.  In  every  city  of  the  country,  as  has  been  well 
said  by  writers  of  national  reputation,  there v  are  springing 
up  more  and  more  apartment  houses,  and  American  homes, 
with  all  their  glorious  traditions,  are  disappearing  faster  and 
faster,  owing  to  the  lack  and  scarcity  of  domestic  help.  *  *  * 

"Why  not  invite  Chinese  labor  to  a  certain  extent  and  or- 
ganize it  and  form  unions  among  them  ?  I  am  sure  they  will 
be  as  ready  and  adaptable  as  any  that  now  exist  in  the  or- 
ganization, and  will  be  only  too  anxious  and  ready  to  accept 
higher  wages  when  the  opportunity  is  given  to  them.  At  the 
same  time  let  the  laws  confer  the  highest  boon  of  American 
citizenship  upon  the  Chinese  who  are  disposed  to  be  natural- 
ized, and  thus  give  them  the  same  chance  of  protection  that 
the  other  laboring  men  of  the  country  so  worthily  and  justly 
enjoy. 

"It  has  been  asserted  that  the  Chinese  do  not  assimilate. 
How  could  you  expect  it  with  the  treatment  they  have  re- 
eeived  since  their  first  advent  into  this  country  ?  The  cry,  '  a 

•83 


damn  Chink'  is  enough  to  create  a  mob  and  the  victims  of 
brutality  and  persecution  and  inhumanity,  in  the  name  of 
Christianity,  that  have  been  practiced  upon  the  Chinese  in 
this  country  cry  aloud  to  Heaven ;  and,  as  Lincoln  said,  *  Every 
drop  of  blood  that  was  drawn  by  the  lash  had  to  be  atoned 
for  by  the  sword,'  so  the  time  will  come  when  the  hardships 
practiced  upon  the  inoffensive,  plodding,  industrious  and 
sober  Chinese  will  come  home  to  plague  the  inventors. 

"In  the  Philipipnes  and  in  Hawaii  the  Chinese  are  an  ab- 
solute necessily,  and  are  a  thousand  times  to  be  preferred  to 
many  of  the  rebellious  natives. 

To  show  the  utter  untrustworthiness  of  the  statements  and 
the  statistics  upon  which  the  present  anti-Asiatic  crusaders 
base  their  arguments,  it  will  only  be  necessary  to  cite  what 
they  have  said  in  relation  to  a  single  industry — that  of  the 
shoe  trade. 

The  selection  of  shoemaking  as  an  industry  that  has  been 
absorbed  by  the  Asiatics  is  certainly  unfortunate  for  the  ex- 
clusionists,  as  it  can  be  proved  conclusively  that  when  the 
greatest  number  of  Asiatics  were  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  boots  and  shoes  in  this  city,  there  were  also  the  greatest 
number  of  white  men  employed  in  the  same  industry.  And 
more  than  that,  the  wages  of  the  white  shoemaker  was  greater 
than  it  is  to-day,  from  every  point  of  view. 

The  reader  whose  sympathies  are  aroused  by  the  terrible 
sufferings  of  the  poor  shoemakers  who  have  been  "driven  to 
the  wall"  by  the  wily  Asiatic,  should  be  put  in  possession  of 
the  real  facts  of  the  case.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  not 
300  Chinese  shoemakers  making  American  style  shoes  in  this 
whole  city.  And  after  35  years  of  experience,  they  have  been 
unable  to  maintain  a  single  factory  capable  of  turning  out  a 
first-class  shoe.  And  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  not  a  first- 
class  Chinese  shoemaker— American  style— on  the  Coast. 

The  expert  shoemaker  will  know  what  I  say  is  true  when  I 
say  that  the  few  Chinamen  who  are  engaged  in  the  business 
are  making  a  cheap  quality  of  slipper  and  a  cheap  quality 
of  channel  nailed  shoes,  doing  all  of  the  work,  except  fitting 
the  uppers,  by  hand.  There  is  not  a  single  Goodyear  welt 
machine  used  by  any  Chinaman  in  this  city,  or  in  possession 
of  any  Chinese  factory. 

Time  does  not  permit  me  to  give  an  analysis  of  the  boot  and 

184 


shoe  industry.  In  a  former  part  of  this  statement  I  have  re- 
ferred to  it  in  relation  to  the  Crispin  a^italini  ->f  1871.  Some4 
of  the  statements  that  I  made  may  be  chalN'nirrd.  Especially 
those  which  relate  to  the  degree  of  skill  tin  if  was  IK-C.  s<.iry  to 
engage  in  modern  shoemaking.  There  is  a  vast  difference  be- 
tween the  skill  of  the  shoemaker  of  fifty  years  ago  and  the 
dexterity  of  the  shoe  operative  of  to-day.  So  I  will  intro- 
duce a  page  of  testimony  given  before  the  State  Labor  Com- 
missioner on  that  question. 

SHOE     INVESTIGATION. 

Mr.  G.  K.  Porter  said  that  "Chinese  firms  were  already  go- 
ing to  the  wall"  because  of  Eastern  competition. 

Mr.  Heeht  made  and  sold  shoes  here  as  cheaply  as  they 
can  be  sold  in  New  York  or  Boston.  Mr.  Hecht  said  he  sold 
Chinese  goods  in  this  city  in  opposition  to  Eastern-made  goods 
at  no  profit,  merely  to  bolster  up  San  Francisco.  He  thought 
we  should  not  look  to  the  white  men  of  the  East,  but  should 
keep  our  eyes  on  our  own  commercial  interests. 

Mr.  Hecht  presented  the  argument  that  if  the  manufactur- 
ers were  compelled  to  discharge  their  Chinese  it  would  also 
necessitate  the  discharge  of  white  men,  as  it  would  reduce 
the  volume  of  the  business. 

Mr.  Altmeyer  said  if  he  discharged  the  Chinese  he  would 
have  to  discharge  a  number  of  white  people  also.  He  does  not 
believe  any  manufacturer  was  philanthropist  enough  to  lose 
money  by  discharging  his  Chinese,  and  the  public  would  not 
patronize  white  labor,  and  as  a  result  the  trade  would  be 
driven  to  the  Eastern  market.  He  favored  a  tariff  against 
Eastern  goods,  heavy  freight  on  railroads,  and  no  taxation 
for  manufacturers. 

Richard  Pahle  thought  manufacturers  could  make  as  good 
a  shoe  about  as  cheap  with  white  labor  as  now  made  by  Chi- 
nese, if  they  only  tried  to  do  so,  but  they  all  thought  what 
seemed  to  be  the  easiest  way  was  the  best. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Broderick  said  if  the  white  manufacturers  would 
sacrifice  a  little  of  their  profit  and  make  a  cheap  quality  of 
shoes  with  white  labor,  he  thought  the  Chinese  could  be  suc- 
cessfully coped  with. 

P.  F.  Nolan  said  boys  could  be  taught  in  three  months  to 
made  as  good  work  as  Chinamen. 

•85 


P.  F.  Nolan  continued  and  said  that  when  the  supply  of 
young  workers  became  great  enough,  manufacturers  here  could 
compete  with  Eastern  cheap  goods.  Mr.  P.  F.  Nolan  further 
said  that  a  young  man  in  a  month  could  get  to  make  as  good 
a  shoe  as  a  Chinaman,  and  there  would  be  but  twenty-two 
cents  a  pair  difi'cernce  in  cost  between  white  and  Chinese 
poods,  which  he  thought  the  average  customer  would  cheer- 
fully pay. 

M.  D.  Nolan,  retail  dealer,  said  that  shoes  could  be  made 
by  white  boys  and  girls  at  a  price  not  greater  than  a  bit  a 
pair  more  than  paid  to  Chinese,  if  not  just  as  cheap  by  skilled 
workmen,  for  about  twenty-five  cents  advance  on  Chinese 
price;  that  boys  and  girls  could  be  taught  in  three  months 
to  make  as  good  a  shoe  as  the  Chinese  now  make;  that  5,000 
could,  be  given  employment  here,  and  this  would  shut  out 
much  of  the  Eastern  trade. 

M.  D.  Nolan  showed  two  qualities  of  slippers,  one  of  Chi- 
nese, the  other  of  white  make.  The  difference  in  price  was 
but  fifty  cents  per  dozen  in  favor  of  the  Chinese,  while  the 
white  slipper  was  twice  as  well  made,  and  the  shoemakers 
present  considered  it  as  good  as  two  of  the  Chinese  make. 

Chester  Williams  testified  that  the  Chinese  manufacturing 
was  falling  off,  owing  to  Eastern  competition. 

Louis  Muir  said  that  Chinese  use  fictitious  stamp  at  the 
white  manufacturers'  request. 

The  foregoing  extracts  from  the  boot  and  shoe  investigation 
proves  that  what  I  said  in  relation  to  the  skill  of  the  white 
shoe  operative  of  this  city  thirty  years  ago  was  supported  by 
the  testimony  of  the  disinterested  shoe  manufacturers  of  this 
city. 

In  my  pamphlet,  "  Reasons  for  Non-Exclusion, "  etc.,  I 
have  examined  and  printed  the  statistics  in  relation  to  boot 
and  shoe  making— and  some  other  industries— of  this  city 
from  the  fiscal  year  of  1887-88  up  to  1901,  which  is  practi- 
2ally  up  to  to-day,  for  the  relative  number  of  employes  en- 
gaged in  shoemaking  has  not  changed  in  four  years.  A  sus- 
picious fact  in  itself.  These  statistics  are  herewith  reprinted. 

On  page  35,  the  San  Francisco  memorialists  recount  their 
grievances  as  follows:  "They  (the  Chinese)  have  invaded  the 
cigar,  shoe,  broom,  chemical,  clothing,  fruit-canning,  match- 
making, woolen-manufacturing  industries,  and  have  displaced 

186 


more  than  4,000  white  men  in  these  several  employments  in 
the  city  of  San  Francisco."  I  take  it  that  the  whole  value  of 
this  memorial  and  pamphlet  rests  upon  the  truthfulness  of 
this  statement. 

Let  us  examine  the  facts.  To  start  with,  we  will  give  the 
conditions  of  the  industries  which  are  alleged  to  hnve  been 
invaded  by  the  Chinese,  as  reported  by  the  assessor  at  the  end 
of  the  fiscal  year  1890-91.  By  starting  at  this  date,  we  have 
ten  years  of  the  working  of  the  Geary  Act  for  purpose  of  com- 
parison; and  as  that  was  the  yoar  immediately  prior  to  the 
passage  of  the  exclusion  law,  the  people  East  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  will  see  what  necessity  there  was  for  such  a  drastic 
ukase,  and  how  the  industries  mentioned  fared  under  the  relief 
from  the  supposed  pressure  of  Chinese  competition.  The  me- 
morialists admit  that  30,000  Chinese  left  the  State  in  the  past 
twenty  years. 

Mr.  Gompers  says  that  "the  pro-Chinese  element  in  this 
country  depends,  in  a  large  measure,  upon  the  general  igno- 
rance that  prevails  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  as  to  the 
merits  or  demerits*'  of  exclusion.  There  is,  no  doubt,  much 
truth  in  what  Mr.  Gompers  says,  and  to  remove  this  deplorable 
ignorance  I  offer  a  few  statistics  from  the  reports  of  the 
assessor  of  the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco  for  the  ten 
years  ending  June  30,  1901. 

In  1890-91,  there  were  10,175  skilled  workers  employed  in 
the  industries  named  in  the  memorial.  Of  these  3,900  were 
Chinese.  The  value  of  the  output  was  $18,541,000.  At  the 
end  of  the  fiscal  year  1900-01,  the  number  of  toilers  employed 
in  said  industries  was  6,705.  Of  these,  1,820  were  Chinese, 
and  the  output  was  valued  at  $11,595,000.  Thus,  instead  of 
regaining  the  4,000  white  toilers  that  are  alleged  to  have  been 
displaced,  we  have  lost  3,470  skilled  workers  in  the  last  ten 
years,  2,180  of  whom  were  Chinese,  and  we  have  fallen  behind 
in  the  value  of  the  output  of  these  industries  more  than 
$6,000,000. 

How  long  will  it  be,  with  this  kind  of  progress,  before  the 
industries  alleged  to  have  been  invaded  by  the  Chinese  will 
give  employment  to  4,000  more  white  people  than  are  now 
engaged  in  them?  Let  the  memorialists  explain  this  phase  of 
our  manufacturing  prosperity  under  the  Geary  Act. 

A  few  more  extracts  from  the  asessor  's  reports,  where  these 

187 


facts  are  found,  may  not  be  amiss  by  way  of  illustration,  and 
for  the  enlightenment  of  the  ignorant  pro-Chinese  citizens  who 
live  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

In  the  fiscal  year  1887-88,  there  were  3,200  people  employed 
in  the  boot,  shoe  and  slipper  industry  in  San  Francisco,  2,000 
of  them  being  Chinese,  and  the  output  was  valued  at  $6,000,- 
000.  To-day— 1901— we  have  950  people  employed  in  the 
same  business,  250  being  Chinese,  and  the  annual  output  has 
fallen  to  $2,350,000.  In  1887-88,  there  were  4,500  people  em- 
ployed in  the  cigar  business,  500  of  them  being  white  work- 
men, and  the  output  was  valued  at  $7,000,000.  To-day— 1901 
—we  have  1,300  people  employed  in  the  same  business,  the 
number  of  white  toilers  remaining  the  same— 500— but  the  an- 
nual output  has  diminished  to  $2,000,000.  In  1890-91,  there 
were  2,800  people  employed  in  the  clothing  business,  and  the 
annual  output  was  valued  at  $6,500,000.  To-day,  the  clothing 
industry  is  reduced  to  the  employment  of  1,050  people,  250 
of  them  being  Chinese,  and  the  value  of  the  output  is  reduced 
to  $1,500,000.  In  1884-85,  there  were  two  woolen  mills  in  San 
Francisco,  and  there  were  1,500  people  employed  in  them,  with 
an  output  valued  at  $1,900,000.  To-day,  there  is  one  woolen 
mill  in  the  city,  and  there  are  145  people  employed,  20  of  them 
being  Chinese,  and  the  output  is  reduced  to  $350,000.  Thirty 
years  ago  the  blankets  made  in  our  California  woolen  mills 
had  an  international  reputation,  and  were  probably  the  best 
in  the  world. 

No,  Mr.  Gompers;  it  is  not  the  cause  which  you  allege  in 
"Meat  vs.  Rice"  that  is  a  menace  to  the  white  toilers  of  this 
city.  The  evil  is  much  broader  and  deeper,  and  it  prevails 
wherever  access  to  the  land  is  restricted  by  antiquated  laws, 
and  wherever  the  state  prevents  the  free  exchange  of  the 
product  of  man's  labor,  which  it  does  by  allowing  monopolies 
in  the  medium  of  exchange  and  in  facilities  for  transportation. 
The  municipal  reports  of  this  city  are  sometimes  instructive 
reading.  They  should  have  been  studied  by  the  memorialists 
before  they  spread  their  wail  before  the  world.  I  will  cite 
three  more  items ;  then  Mr.  Gompers  may  take  the  case. 

In  1890-91  there  were  52  tanneries  and  wool-pulling  estab- 
lishments in  San  Francisco.  They  employed  1,030  people,  and 
the  output  was  valued  at  $3,195,000.  To-day,  the  number  of 
tanneries  is  reduced  to  25,  the  number  of  men  employed  has 

1 88 


fallen  to  330,  and  the  product  has  dwindled  to  $1,460,000. 
The  foundry  business  nourished  here  from  the  beginning  of 
our  municipal  history.  In  1888-89,  there  were  forty  foundries 
in  this  city,  and  they  gave  employment  to  4,375  men  and  boys, 
the  output  being  7,000,000.  To-day,  after  twelve  years  of 
growth  in  population,  and  the  immense  demand  for  machinery 
in  Alaska  and  the  farther  north— the  extraordinary  demand 
for  men  and  material  to  repair  and  fit  out  our  colonial  tran- 
sports—the foundries  and  machine-shops  combined  employ 
only  5,500  people,  and  the  output  is  placed  at  $7,500,000.  In 
1891,  the  furniture  industry  gave  employment  to  950  men, 
with  an  output  valued  at  $1,530,000.  In  1895-96,  the  same 
industry  dwindled  down  to  100  men,  and  the  output  was  val- 
ued at  $100,000.  After  1895-96,  the  furniture  industry  does 
not  appear  upon  the  assessor's  reports.  Here  we  have  three 
staple  industries  in  which  Chinese  are  not  employed;  one 
of  them  has  gone  out  of  existence,  another  has  stood  still,  and 
the  taners'  annual  output  has  been  reduced  more  than  one- 
half. 

The  memorialists  were  not  interested  in  making  these  facts 
public,  because  in  order  to  explain  them  they  would  have  been 
obliged  to  go  outside  the  Chinese  question.  They  had  no  de- 
sire, and  were  not  prepared,  to  discuss  the  equitable  compensa- 
tion of  labor.  It  will  be  seen  that  San  Francisco  has  fallen 
behind  in  the  number  of  men  employed,  both  in  those  indus- 
tries where  Chinese  compete  and  in  those  where  there  is  no 
such  competition. 

Not  only  has  the  output  decreased  in  the  eight  industries 
selected  by  the  memorialists  as  examples  of  the  effect  of  Chi- 
nese competition,  but  wages  have  fallen;  and  employment  is 
Uncertain  in  at  least  one  of  these  industries— boot  and  shoe 
making.  Nine  dollars  per  week  is  considered  fair  wages  for 
the  few  operatives  tha|  yet  remain  in  our  shoe  factories. 

With  our  increase  of  14.51  per  cent  in  population  in  the  last 
decade,  we  should  have  now  nearly  12,000  skilled  laborers  em- 
ployed in  the  eight  industries  mentioned  by  the  memorialists : 
instead  of  which  we  have  only  6,705  people  of  all"  colors  en- 
gaged in  those  industries.  According  to  the  same  rate  of 
increase,  the  value  of  the  output  from  the  same  industries 
*hould  have  been  more  than  $20,000,000,  instead  of  being  but 
little  more  than  half  this  sum.  Thus  we  are  driven  to  the 


conclusion  that  the  industries  mentioned  by  the  memorialists 
as  being  invaded  by  the  Chinese  have  fallen  behind  in  the  last 
ten  years— when  compared  with  the  rate  of  increase  in  popu- 
lation—nearly one-half.  Is  this  a  coincidence?  or  is  it -cause 
and  effect? 

The  memorialists  have  made  an  ex  parfe  statement  to  influ- 
ence votes,  and  it  is  presumable  that  they  know  that  the  back- 
ward state  of  the  industries  mentioned  is  not  due  to  Chinese 
competition,  and  that  it  cannot  be  remedied  by  an  exclusion 
act.  Many  of  them  freely  admit  that  if  the  45,000  Chinese 
who  are  in  this  state  were  to  be  deported  to-morrow,  there 
would  be  a  panic  in  our  industrial  life,  and  misery  in  many  of 
our  homes,  yet  the  rise  of  the  wage  rate  would  be  hardly 
perceptible. 

To-day  the  Chinese  laborer  is  as  much  a  factor  in  the  labor 
market  of  the  world  when  he  is  employed  in  China  as  he  would 
be  if  he  were  employed  in  Connecticut.  The  whole  world  is 
now  an  open  market.  The  manufacturing  syndicates  of  this 
3ountry  can,  through  the  control  of  subsidized  and  protected 
industries,  force  their  way  into  and  demoralize  any  market  in 
the  world.  It  makes  no  material  difference  to  the  great  em- 
ployers of  labor  whether  the  few  thousands  of  Chinese  work 
here  or  in  China.  Their  control  of  the  mechanism  of  exchange 
gives  them  a  profit  on  the  labor  of  the  Chinese,  as  well  as  on 
the  labor  of  the  Caucasian  wage-worker,  no  matter  where 
either  may  be  situated.  It  would  disappoint  me  very  much  to 
see  the  American  Federation  of  Employers  make  any  serious 
effort  to  retard  the  passage  of  the  exclusion  act.  The  laborers 
tvho  are  the  favorites  of  our  modern  labor  lords  are  the  healthy 
young  natives  of  the  British  Islands,  or  their  descendants;  or 
the  graduates  of  our  American  common  schools,  who  have  been 
taught  that  the  American  is  the  greatest  man  on  God's  foot- 
stool, and  who  are  willing  to  prove  it  by  working  their  young 
lives  out  for  their  employers,  as  if  the  whole  furnishing  of  the 
3arth  must  be  done  during  their  working  lifetime.  These  are 
the  men  who  have  given  character  to  American  labor,  and 
extraordinary  profit  to  American  capital.  The  same  spirit  was 
characteristic  of  the  British  laborer  at  one  time,  and  Mr. 
Brassey,  an  English  labor  lord,  speaks  of  it  very  intelligently 
in  comparing  the  British  "navy"  with  the  French  laborer. 
This  immolating  characteristic  is  peculiar  to  the  British  and 


190 


American  toiler,  and  is  not  a  trait  of  the  Chinese  worker,  ex- 
cept upon  extraordinary  occasions.  The  American  employer 
has  found  out  this  fact,  and  he  does  not  employ  Chinese  labor, 
steady,  plodding  qualities  are  required.  It  is  very  doubtful 
whether  Chinese  labor  is  much  cheaper  than  American  labor, 
taking  all  the  factors  into  consideration. 

When  an  American  contractor  has  two  days'  work  that  he 
wants  done  in  one  day's  time,  he  does  not  hunt  a  Chinaman 
for  the  job.  The  Chinese  who  are  now  employed  on  this 
Coast  are  not  employed  so  much  in  large  bodies  as  they  for- 
merly were.  They  are  mostly  employed  by  people  who  are 
struggling  to  establish  and  maintain  an  independent  industry. 
The  Chinaman  offers  to  the  independent  producer  the  last 
•shance  to  live,  and  keep  from  being  an  appendage  to  a  trust 
or  to  one  of  its  tentacles.  In  a  word,  the  Chinaman  is  the  only 
working-machine  that  cannot  be  wholly  controlled  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Employers,  and  to  disturb  the  rela- 
tions that  now  exist,  or  even  to  prevent  the  small  producer 
from  access  to  this  source  of  help,  would  be  to  hinder  social 
and  material  progress  on  this  Coast. 

If  the  conditions  obtained  to-day  that  existed  in  pioneer 
times,  there  would  be  no  hue  and  cry  against  the  Chinese. 
Not  a  word  from  the  convention  about  restoring  those  condi- 
tions. 

For  the  culture  that  prevails  in  the  state  of  California  we 
are  largely  indebted  to  the  patient  but  despised  Asiatics. 
They  have  done  our  drudgery  from  the  beginning  without 
complaint.  They  have  built  our  railroads,  drained  our 
swamps,  planted  our  fruit  trees,  and  gathered  our  harvests. 
They  have  done  everything  that  faithful  servants  could  do  to 
secure  our  comfort  and  welfare,  and  now,  because  we  are  un- 
equal to  the  task  of  making  laws  which  will  equitably  dis- 
tribute the  wealth  that  we  produce,  we  want  to  close  our  gates 
against  the  people  who*have  done  so  much  to  make  us  one  of 
the  "grandest  states  of  the  Union."  It  reminds  one  of  the 
ostrich  sticking  his  head  in  the  sand,  waiting  until  the  storm 
blows  over.  The  indications  are  that  our  storm  will  not  blow 
over  until  the  laborer  gets  an  equitable  share  of  his  product. 
We  are  up  against  the  Sphinx,  and  exclusion  is  no  answer  to 
the  riddle: 

The  following  letter  from  Judge  R.  F.  Peckham,  President 


191 


of  the  San  Jose  Woolen  Mill,  contains  very  pertinent  points 
and  practical  suggestions,  and  is  now  reprinted  for  the  way 
it  explains  the  woolen  industry: 

"SAN  JOSE,  March  2,  1890. 
"HoN.  J.  J.  TOBIN,  Commissioner  if  the  Bureau  of  Labor. 

"DEAR  SIR:  I  have  been  much  interested  in  newspaper  ae- 
eounts  of  your  report  on  the  woolen  industry  of  California. 
Will  you  please,  if  you  have  it  printed,  or  when  it  is  printed, 
send  me  a  copy?  It  is,  as  reported  in  the  journals,  in  the 
main  correct.  The  high  rates  of  money,  labor,  fuel,  taxes,  in- 
surance, to  which  might  be  added  rents;  the  limited  market, 
and  the  most  expensive  way  of  disposing  of  manufactured 
products,  are  the  bane  of  not  only  the  woolen,  but  mostly 
every  class  of  manufacturing  industry  in  California;  and  so 
far  as  the  woolen  industry  is  concerned,  the  fact  that  San 
Francisco  is  made  the  dumping  ground  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  is  the  most  fatal.  The  tariff  has  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  We  cannot  reach  Mexico,  or  British  Columbia,  or 
any  other  foreign  market,  unless  we  sell  as  cheap  as  any  other 
nation.  This  means  competition  with  the  whole  world— with 
as  cheap  money,  as  cheap  labor,  as  cheap  products  of  labor, 
as  any  other  country.  I  find  no  one  prepared  for  this.  Cal- 
ifornia has  naturally  the  wealth  of  an  empire,  but  its  perfect 
development  depends  upon  one  or  the  other  of  two  things.  It 
is  either  getting  down  in  our  ideas  of  value  to  the  balance  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  or  in  educating  ourselves  to 
the  fact  that  to  sustain  our  higher  values,  we  must  stand  to- 
gether or  patronize  each  other,  consume  the  products  of  our 
own  laboring  classes,  and  purchase  nothing  else  where  that 
can  be  purchased  at  home,  because  it  is  offered  cheaper  than 
we  can  produce  it.  It  is  draining  the  state  of  our  circulating 
medium  to  pay  for  things  we  could  produce  at  home  at  a 
triflng  more  cost.  So  long  as  we  continue  to  purchase  of  those 
who  can  produce  cheaper  than  we  can,  our  labor  must  go  un- 
employed, and  even  run  the  risk  of  bringing  upon  us  a  finan- 
cial panic  and  general  bankruptcy.  When  this  comes  away 
will  go  all  our  better  values,  both  in  rent,  trade  and  prosper- 
ity, below  the  average  American  standard,  and  it  will  find  our 
industries  unable  to  give  employment  to  all  those  that  will 
be  compelled  to  labor  for  the  means  of  support. 

But  little  can  be  done  by  legislation.     But  we  have,  the 

192 


power  and  should  enact  laws  to  prohibit  any  stato  msi  itutmii 
or  institutions— including  counties  and  cities— supported  in 
part  by  the  state,  from  buying  anything  in  the  way  of  sup- 
plies that  can  be  produced  in  California.  The  money  of  the 
state  should  not  go  to  the  discouragement  of  our  own  indus- 
try. In  building  up  her  woolen  manufactures,  enacted  laws 
requiring  that  her  dead  should  be  buried  in  woolen  clothing. 
Beyond  this  nothing  can  be  done  except  in  our  indhidual 
capacities.  As  long  as  we  look  for  merchandise  which  has 
been  dumped  on  our  market  by  Eastern  overloaded  manufac- 
tories, Eastern  bankrupt  market-merchants,  to  supply  oui 
wants  simply  because  we  can  get  them  below  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, and  that  where  money,  fuel,  labor,  taxes  and  insur- 
ance are  much  cheaper  than  here,  so  long  are  we  at  war  with 
ourselves,  and  our  industries  must  go  down  and  our  labor  go 
unemployed. 

Let  the  reform  commence  with  our  labor  unions  and  con- 
federated trades.  When  they  want  any  of  the  necessaries  or 
the  conveniences  of  life,  resolve  that  they  will  buy  nothing 
which  is  not  produced  in  their  own  state,  if  what  they  want  so 
produced  can  be  so  made,  and  act  upon  this  resolution,  and 
our  industries  seeking  to  expand  and  give  employment  to  labor 
will  soon  find  that  they  are  getting  upon  a  more  healthy 
basis.  Capital  will  have  more  confidence  and  will  not  be  so 
fearful  of  going  into  adventures  depending  upon  the  em- 
ployment of  the  laboring  people.  If  the  confederated  trades 
could  unite  in  the  establishment  and  support  of -a  journal  de- 
voted to  the  support  and  consumption  of  the  products  of  Cali- 
fornia labor,  as  well  as  the  value  of  the  labor  itself,  it  would 
be  a  long  step  in  the  right  direction.  How  can  the  value  of 
labor  be  maintained  when  we  will  not  even  try  to  support  the 
value  of  its  own  products?  How  can  we  expect  to  receive 
good  interest  and  gqpd  wares  when  we,  in  purchasing  the 
products  of  other  men,  pay  extra  for  prices  which  would 
starve  even  a  Chinaman  in  their  production  ? ; 

"Will  they  ever  do  it?    It  is  extremely  doubtful. 

"R.  F.  PECKHAM." 

How  another  California  industry  has  been  ruined  by  other 
causes  than  "Chinese  cheap  labor.**  I  submit  the  following 
excerpt  from  the  "Broom  Maker,"  the  official  journal  of  the 


International  Broom  and  Brush  Makers  Union,  of  November 
1904.    It  tells  the  story: 

San  Francisco,  Cal.,  Nov.  5,  '04. 
Mr.  0.  A.  B rower, 

DEAR  SIR  AND  BROTHER:— As  I  have  not  written  anything 
for  the  Journal  for  some  time,  I  thought  it  best  to  acquaint 
our  eastern  locals  with  the  general  conditions  of  the  broom 
business  in  this,  the  metropolis  of  the  West.  While  the  broom 
business  has  been  dull  here  for  about  eight  months  of  the 
present  year,  it  has  improved  a  great  deal  within  the  past  six 
or  eight  weeks,  but  it  is  not  what  it  should  be.  Just  think  of  a 
eity  with  a  population  of  350,000,  and  its  great  export  trade, 
only  employing  18  white  broom  makers,  while  to  the  writer's 
best  knowledge  there  are  at  the  present  time  in  this  city  12 
broom  makers,  including  tyers  and  sewers,  not  working  at 
the  trade,  some  of  them  being  out  of  the  business  for  two 
years.  Most  of  these  men  are  first-class  workmen  and  would 
like  to  work  at  the  business,  could  they  secure  employment. 

Local  No.  58  would  get  along  a  great  deal  better  if  they 
could  secure  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  manufacturers,  but 
they  do  not  seem  to  realize  that  what  is  good  for  the  broom 
makers  is  good  for  their  employers.  They  just  antagonize  the 
union  and  its  members  in  every  possible  way.  This  does  them 
no  good  from  a  business  standpoint,  and  keeps  the  union  from 
progressing  as  it  should. 

The  white  manufacturers  have  decreased  their  business  in 
the  city,  and  so  also  have  the  Chinese  manufacturers.  Form- 
erly there  were  five  Chinese  shops  and  three  white  manufac- 
turers, but  now  we  have  three  Chinese  and  two  white  shops. 
This  goes  to  show  that  the  broom  business  on  the  coast  is  fast 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Eastern  manufacturers,  as  they 
dump  their  goods  on  the  market  at  most  any  price.  Eastern 
broom  corn  seems  to  be  a  scarce  article  on  the  coast  at  the 
present  writing,  and  the  new  California  Crop  is  badly  damaged 
owing  to  excessive  rain  that  occurred  during  the  time  of  har- 
vesting the  crop. 

Respectfully  yours, 

PRESS  SECRETARY,  No.  58. 

The  absurdities  which  our  Government  has  enacted  into 
statute  and  decided  to  be  the  law  in  relation  to  the  exempt 
class  are  well  illustrated  in  the  legal  definition  of  the  term 


''student,"  as  published  in  the  "Regulations  for  the  Adnns 
aion  of  Chinese."  Rule  16  Regulations  of  1902,  says:  "A 
Chinese  Student  is  a  person  who  intends  to  be  fitted  for  some 
particular  profession  or  occupation  for  which  facilities  of 
study  are  not  afforded  in  his  own  country;  one  for  whose  sup- 
port and  maintenance  in  this  country,  as  a  student,  provision 
has  been  made,  and  who,  upon  completion  of  his  studies,  ex- 
pects to  return  to  China." 

Rule  17.  "Chinese  who  are  admitted  as  students  but  with- 
out the  certificates  prescribed  bytsection  6  of  the  Act  of  July 
5th,  1884,  and  on  their  arrival  in  this  country  become  laborers, 
are  not  entitled  to  remain  in  the  United  States  and  should  be 
deported."  United  States,  Chu  Chee,  87  Federal  Rep. 

The  injustice  of  the  foregoing  rules  can  be  shown  by  one  or 
two  illustrations: 

Let  us  suppose  that  a  young  male  Chinese,  of  the  class  other 
than  laborer,  in  his  own  country,  should  want  to  study  the 
Natural  History  of  the  Potato  Bug  on  American  soil  and  in 
American  climate. 

Should  we  admit  him?  Would  the  administrative  officers 
hold  that  this  subject  belongs  to  the  list  of  studies  included 
in  the  term  "Highest  Education?"  It  could  not  be  claimed 
that  the  applicant  could  pursue  this  study  in  any  of  his  own 
schools  because  of  the  atmospheric  and  other  conditions  which 
I  have  assumed  to  be  a  necessary  condition  to  the  successful 
prosecution  of  the  desired  study. 

Of  course,  after  careful  examination,  including  very  minute 
measurements,  the  authorities  would  be  compelled  to  admit 
him. 

Let  us  imagine  that  this  student  is  assigned  to  the  University 
of  California,  at  Berkeley,  and  has  there  honorably  completed 
his  studies.  He  has  written  his  thesis  for  a  degree  and  has  won 
the  coveted  honor.  His  paper  is  pronounced  worthy  of  print. 
And  the  distinguished  entomologist  is  asked  to  remain  in  the 
University  and  conduct  a  series  of  experiments  illustrating 
or  demonstrating  his  favorite  subject,  in  association,  say,  with 
Professor  Holgard.  Under  the  present  law  he  could  not  do  so, 
oecause  the  law  says  that  "upon  completion  of  his  studies  he 
expects  to  return  to  China. "  My  hypothetical  student  finished 
his  studies  when  he  received  his  degree.  His  sojourn  in  this 
country,  after  that  period,  was  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  u» 

195 


something,  assuming  that  there  is,  or  can  be,  anything  in  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  potato  bug  that  we  do  not  already 
know. 

Again,  let  us  suppose  that  a  Chinese  graduate  of  the  Pekin 
University  wished  to  take  a  post-graduate  course  in  the  Nevada 
State  University.  This  student's  purpose,  we  will  say,  is  to 
ascertain  if  there  is  an  asymptotic  line  which  would,  when  ex- 
tended to  a  predetermined  point,  approach  a  certain  order  or 
kind  of  curve  with  an  accelerating  degree  of  rapidity."  In 
this  case  the  examiner  decides  that  his  desired  subject  certainly 
belongs  among  the  "higher  branches,"  but  refuses  admission 
to  the  applicant  on  the  ground  that  sufficient  provision  has  not 
been  made  for  the  student's  maintenance  while  prosecuting 
his  studies." 

If  either  of  these  supposed  students,  after  arrival  here, 
should  have  lost  his  guarantee  for  support  and  maintenance, 
he  could  not  remain  and  work  his  way  through  college  in  this 
democratic  country !  His  presence  might  irritate  some  member 
of  an  influential  Labor  Union  with  a  political  "pull." 

Before  closing  our  consideration  of  the  cruelties  and  in- 
justices constantly  perpetrated  upon  the  Exempt  Class  of 
Chinese,  who  apply  for  admission  to  this  country,  we  must 
dwell  a  moment  upon  the  unnecessary  and  continuous  outrages 
that  are  perpetrated  upon  the  Chinese  in  the  "Detention 
Sheds."  The  reader  will  remember  that  when,  for  any  reason, 
the  applicant  is  denied  admission  to  this  country,  by  the 
officials,  and  an  appeal  to  the  proper  authorities  granted,  he 
is  confined  in  an  inclosure  called  a  "Detention  Shed,"  pending 
the  decision  of  his  case.  The  shed  used  for  such  detention  in 
this  port  is  on  the  Pacific  Mail  Dock.  From  what  can  be 
learned  from  those  who  have  survived  and  escaped  from  its 
horrors,  it  is  a  loathesome  place,  constructed  with  no  regard 
to  modern  sanitary  requirements.  We  have  read  of  the  hor- 
rors of  the  ' '  Middle  Passage ' '  and  of  the  cruelties  perpetrated 
in  the  Andersonville  and  Libby  prisons  during  the  Civil  War, 
but  if  the  full  and  true  story  of  the  detention  shed  could  be 
told,  this  modern  instance  of  "man's  inhumanity  to  man" 
would  surpass  any  of  those. 

That  this  must  be  so  the  facts  of  the  case  conclusively  prove. 
First— all  who  have  been  confined  in  these  sheds  belong  to 
what  we  have  always  considered  an  inferior  race.  We  have 

196 


slassed  them  with  the  Negro  and  Indian.  Current  history 
proves  how  we  still  treat  the  Negro.  Hardly  a  month  passes 
without  the  record  of  the  burning  of  some  one  or  more  of 
them  at  the  stake.  And  every  one  knows  how  popular  used  to 
be  the  saying  "The  only  good  Indian  is  a  Dead  Indian."  It 
is  in  this  attitude  toward  the  colored  races  that  we  approach 
the  Chinese.  In  our  ignorance,  prejudice  and  conceit  we  class 
them  beneath  ourselves  in  the  scale  of  morality  and  intelli- 
gence. Thus  it  comes  about  that  when  a  member  of  the  Chi- 
nese family  is  placed  in  the  detention  shed,  his  friends  denied 
or  hindered  access  to  him,  he  is  in  the  worst  condition  of 
14 Incommunicado,"  as  our  Spanish  friends  put  it.  Now  in 
the  case  of  Chinese  ladies  for  any  reason  refused  admission 
and  sent  to  the  Detention  Shed,  the  imagination  does  not 
work  hard  to  picture  the  vile  abuse  of  power  that  is  bound 
to  follow  when  we  place  any  human  being  beyond  the  pro- 
tection of  the  common  law.  The  reader  will  remember  that, 
according  to  the  Exclusion  Laws,  "the  wife  partakes  of  the 
status  of  her  husband."  And  when  a  Chinese  woman  of  the 
exempt  class,  is  refused  permission  to  land  on  our  shores, 
she  is  immediately  classed  among  "laborers"  and  placed  in 
the  detention  shed.  And  we  have  shown  that,  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  the  exclusion  act  into  effect,  * '  laborers ' '  are  classed 
with  gamblers  and  highbinders.  When  an  Administrative  offi- 
eer  has  a  comely  Chinese  woman  under  his  absolute  and  ir- 
responsible control,  without  access  to  her  friends,  and  he 
knows  that  the  law  puts  her  on  the  level  with  the  prostitute, 
what  conduct  can  expect  from  him,  especially  if  he  is  a  low- 
grade,  conscienceless  politician,  with  none  to  call  him  to  ac- 

eount  ? 

• 

For  the  sake  of  humanity  and  for  our  own  good  name,  we 
should  make  haste  to  repeal  this  inhuman  Exclusion  Law. 


197 


"Behold  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open  door  and  no  man  can  shut 
it"— Rev.  3:  8. 


SUMMARY 


We  have  gathered  the  facts.  It  remains  to  assemble  and 
arrange  them  in  some  approach  to  order.  The  time  is  too 
short  to  make  the  mosaic  a  pleasure  to  the  eye.  The  careful 
reader  will  discern  that  the  material  has  been  gleaned  from 
all  sources.  We  have  gone  hack  to  the  early  history  of  the 
State  and  we  have  called  items  from  the  current  issues  of  the 
daily  newspaper.  We  have  trusted  that  the  mere  statement 
sf  the  facts  was  all  the  argument  needed  to  prove  the  case. 
We  have  shown  that  from  the  earliest  history  of  the  State 
the  Chinaman  has  been  with  us.  From  the  day  that  the  three 
Chinese  landed  here  in  1848,  and  became  the  servants  in  the 
household  of  the  Pioneer,  C.  V.  Gillespie,  to  the  present  time, 
the  Chinese  have  been  an  undispensable  part  of  our  domestic 
economy. 

We  have  resurrected  a  list  of  the  outrages  perpetrated  upon 
the  Chinese  in  this  State  during  the  last  fifty  years,  which 
should  bring  the  blush  of  shame  to  every  American. 

I  say  American,  because  California  alone  should  not  justly 
bear  the  blame.  She  was  not  wholly  responsible  for  the  law 
as  it  was  interpreted  in  the  case  of  the  People  vs.  Hall,  in  1854, 
and  in  the  more  famous  decision  of  Judge  Taney  in  the  Dred- 
Scott  case. 

During  the  perpetration  of  all  these  outrages  the  patient  and 
long-suffering  Chinaman  was  our  trusted  servant,  the  com- 
panion of  our  children,  and  the  mainstay  of  the  household. 
And  there  is  hardly  an  instance  on  record  in  which  our 
Yellow  Brother  sought  revenge  for  his  injuries  or  made  re- 
prisals on  the  defenseless. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  State  when  the  few  Caucasian 
laborers  who  were  here  could  not  be  relied  upon,  the  Chinese 
built  our  railways. 

They  were  indispensable  on  the  farm.  Most  of  our  orchards 
owe  their  origin  and  existence  to  the  patient  labor  of  the  in- 


telligent  Chinaman.  Onr  fruit  industry,  that  amounts  -to 
nearly  $10,000,000  during  the  current  year,  depends  upon 
them  for  its  very  existence.  They  have  leveed  our  swamp 
lands,  and  the  man  who  knows  what  kind  of  work  that  is  and 
grudges  the  hard-earned  dollar  which  the  Chinese  toiler  re- 
ceives therefor  is  usually  one  who  is  very  careful  to  avoid  all 
such  exposure  and  expenditure  of  effort  himself. 

We  have  shown  by  the  amplest  and  most  indisputable  evi- 
dence that  but  for  the  presence  of  the  Chinese  in  the  early 
history  of  our  State,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  start 
and  carry  on  many  of  our  manufacturing  industries.  The 
testimony  given  at  nearly  all  the  investigations  made  by  our 
Labor  Commissioners  proved  that  the  Chinese  were  absolutely 
indispensable  to  our  manufacturing  interests. 

This  is  specially  tme  of  the  cigar,  shoe  and  woolen  in- 
dustries. It  has  been  proved  that,  immediately  after  the  Geary 
Act  went  into  effect,  the  industries  which  mainly  depended 
upon  the  labor  of  the  Chinese  gradually  and  steadily  declined. 
And  today,  with  a  population  nearly  three  times  what  we  had 
thirty  years  ago,  we  have,  for  example,  fewer  white  shoemakers 
than  we  had  in  1869.  And  a  similar  fact  applies  to  the  cigar 
industry,  the  woolen  industry  and  to  other  industries  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree. 

Our  fishing  industry,  especially  deep  water  fishing,  has  been 
dependent  upon  Chinese  labor.  And  we  have  Dr.  Jordan 's 
emphatic  testimony  as  to  their  usefulness  and  necessity  in 
that  severe  and  indispensable  occupation. 

Speaking  of  fish,  every  housewife  in  San  Francisco  knows 
that  since  the  use  of  steam  fishing  vessels  has  been  introduced 
into  our  waters  by  a  class  of  foreigners  who  are  eligible  to 
citizenship,  the  price  of  fish  has  been  steadily  raised,  even 
above  that  of  meat,  in  some  cases.  The  Italian  owners  of  these 
improved  fishing  appliances  have  formed  a  "  Trust "  and  have 
successfully  ousted  the  Chinese  fishermen,  much  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  pocket  of  every  American  household.  Yet,  in 
our  blindness  and  "Yellow"  prejudice,  we  can  see  no  good  in 
"John."  We  have  given  him  a  bad  name  and  we  seem 
resolutely  determined  to  prove  that  he  deserves  it. 

And  this,  the  cultivation  of  edible  sea  weeds,  suggests  the 
fact  that— a  most  valuable  food-product  of  our  seacoast— is 
almost  wholly  neglected.  If  our  prejudice  would  but  allow 

199 


us  to  employ  the  Chinese  they  could  efficiently  aid  us  in  gather- 
ing this  most  valuable  harvest  of  the  sea. 

Thirst  at  ement  has  conclusively  proven  one  important  fact : 
that  (the  present  campaign  against  the  Asiatic  is  wholly  the 
work  of  the  Trade  Unionsj-that  the  people  at  large  have 
hardly  any  interest  in  it.  We  have  shown  how  the  Secretary 
of  a  State  Labor  Organization  can  at  any  time  manufacture  a 
semblance  of  public  opinion.  For  example,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Building  Trades  Council  of  California,  with  its  170 
affiliated  organizations,  can  at  any  time  get  the  newspapers  to 
publish,  discuss  and  seemingly  approve  the  gist  of  their  reso- 
lutions. 

We  have  given  the  reader  the  very  best  that  can  be  said 
against  the  Chinese,  the  mouthings  of  the  demagogue  and  the 
arguments  of  the  statesman.  Wejtiave  shown  the  irrelevancy 
of  their  illustrations— the  insufficiency  of  their  facts  and  the 
incompetency  of  their  conclusions.  We  have  printed  almost 
the  entire  speech  of  the  ablest  United  States  Representative 
that  ever  spoke  in  the  National  Legislature  upon  Chinese  ex- 
clusion. In  this  same  statement  we  have  also  printed  the 
speech  of  a  journeyman  tailor  in  this  city  in  1902,  and  we 
confidently  ask  the  reader  who  is  familiar  with  the  doctrine  of 
Henry  George  to  compare  the  two  speeches. 

The  speech  of  Judge  Maguire— for  it  is  to  him  I  refer  as 
the  eminent  legislator— when  pleading  for  the  rights  of  man, 
is  most  eloquent  and  convincing,  but  lame  and  halting  when 
he  attempts  to  deny  their  application  to  at  least  one-third  of 
mankind.  We  stop  to  ask  here,  how  can  any  sane  man  logical- 
ly plead  the  right  of  self-preservation  against  the  peaceful 
Chinese  worker  in  a  country  which  he  so  repeatedly  affirms  is 
"measureless  and  inexhaustible  in  its  resources"? 

Let  us  now  consider  our  treaty  relations  with  the  Chinese. 
We  will  quote  only  enough  to  show  their  rank  injustice  and 
the  urgent  necessity  of  their  immediate  revision  in  the  in- 
terests of  good  feeling  and  of  commercial  necessity. 

While  dwelling  upon  the  necessity  of  better  treaty  rela- 
tions, let  us  recall  the  kindly  language  of  "Your  good  friend, 
John  Tyler. " 

The  attitude  of  the  United  States  toward  China  is  shown 
by  the  treaties  which  we  have  made  with  that  country  since 
1880,  and  the  exclusion  acts  growing  out  of  said  treaties.  Tn 

200 


1868  we  did  attempt  to  give  effect  to  the  sentiments  expressed 
by  "Your  good  friend,  John  Tyler,"  written  in  1843.  And 
the  following  liberal  language  is  found  in  Article  V  of  that 
treaty : 

"The  inherent  and  inalienable  right  of  man  to  change  his 
home  and  allegiance,  and  also  the  mutual  advantge  of  the 
free  migration  and  immigration  of  their  citizens  and  subjects 
from  the  one  country  to  the  other  for  the  purposes  of  trade, 
or  as  permanent  residents." 

And  right  here  it  might  be  wholly  pertinent  to  ask  what  is 
the  sense  of  asserting  the  "inherent  and  inalienable  right  of 
man  to  change  his  home  and  allegiance,"  if,  when  that  man 
attempts  to  land  upon  our  shores,  we  refuse  him  permission  to 
do  so?  And  is  not  that  just  what  we  dof  Especially  if  the 
applicant  belongs  to  the  industrial  classes. 

Article  VI  of  the  same  treaty  provides  that : 

1 1  Citizens  of  the  United  States  visiting  or  residing  in  China 
shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges,  immunities  or  exemptions  in 
respect  of  travel  or  residence  as  may  there  be  enjoyed  by  the 
citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation.  And,  recipro- 
cally, Chinese  subjects  residing  in  the  United  States  shall  en- 
joy the  same  privileges,  immunities  and  exemptions  in  re- 
spect to  travel  or  residence  as  may  there  be  enjoyed  by  the 
citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation." 

It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  the  last  clause  of  Article 
VI  is  not  now  observed  as  the  law  of  the  land.  And  the 
spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  every  act  passed  by  our  national 
legislature  since  1880  has  been  used  to  hinder  the  application 
of  this  clause  of  that  solemn  treaty. 

The  fourth  treaty,  known  as  the  ' '  Supplementary  Treaty. ' ' 
of  November  17,  1880,  by  its  Article  I,  provides  that : 

"Whenever,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  the  coming  of  Chinese  laborers  to  the  United 
States,  or  their  residence  therein,  affects,  or^tHreatens  to  affect, 
the  interests  of  the  country,  or  to  endanger  the  good  order  of 
the  said  country  or  of  any  locality  within  the  territory  there- 
of, *  *  *  the  Government  of  the  United  States  may 
regulate,  limit  or  suspend  such  coming  or  residence,  but  may 
not  absolutely  prohibit  it.  The  limitation  or  suspension  shall 
be  reasonable,  and  shall  apply  only  to  Chinese  who  may  go  to 
the  UnrCeli~States  as  laborers,  other  classes  not  being  included 

201 


in  the  limitations.  Legislation  taken  in  regard  to  Chinese 
laborers  will  be  of  such  a  character  only  as  is  necessary  to 
enforce  the  regulation,  limitation  or  suspension  of  immi- 
gration, and  immigrants  shall  not  be  subject  to  personal  mal- 
treatment or  abuse.  ' ' 

Its  Article  II  declares  that : 

"Chinese  subjects,  whether  proceeding  to  the  United  States 
as  teachers,  students,  merchants,  or  from  curiosity,  together 
with  their  body  and  household  servants,  and  Chinese  laboreres 
who  are  now  in  the  United  States,  shall  be  allowed  to  go  and 
come  of  their  own  free  will  and  accord,  and  shall  be  ac- 
corded all  the  rights,  privileges,  immunities  and  exemptions 
which  are  accorded  to  citizens  and  subjects  of  the  most  fa- 
vored nation.'* 

The  fifth  treaty,  that  of  December  8,  1804,  agreed  that: 

"For  a  period  of  ten  years,  beginning  with  the  date  of  the 

exchange  of  the  ratification  of  this  convention,  the  coming, 

except  under  the  conditions  hereinafter  specified,  of  Chinese 

laborers  to  the  United  States,  shall  be  absolutely  prohibited." 

Its  Article  III  continued  the  rights  of  the  privileges  of 
coming  to  and  residing  in  the  United  States.  Its  Article  IV 
gave  to  all  Chinese,  even  laborers,  "for  the  protection  of  their 
persons  and  property,  all  rights  that  are  given  by  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  to  citizens  of  the  most  favored  nation,  ex- 
cept the  right  to  become  naturalized  citizens."  This  treaty 
was  terminated  by  China  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  in  accord- 
ance with  terms  of  its  Article  VI,  applicable  to  both  coun- 
tries. 

In  October,  1888,  Congress  passed  ajnjict,  supplementaryjto 
the  act  of  1882,  which  "executed"  the  treaties  then  in  force 
with  a  vengeance,  by  entirely  prohibiting  the  return  of  all 
Chinese  laborers  to  the  United  Slates,  and  by  explicitly  de- 
claring void  and  of  no  effect  the  return  certificates  already 
granted  under  the  act  of  18S2.  No  more  return  certificates 
could  thereafter  be  given,  no  Chinese  laborer  could  thereafter 
lawfully  return;  and  even  American  citizens  of  Chinese  des- 
cent, born  here,  were  excluded  under  this  act,  which  remained 
in  force  until  the  treaty  of  1894  came  into  effect.  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  the  treaty  then  existing  forbade  the  United 
States  to  prohibit  the  coming  of  Chinese. 

202 


In  March  1901,  Congress  passed  an  act  supplementary  to 
the  prohibiting  act  of  1892,  which  provided : 

"That  no  warrant  or  arrest  for  violation  of  the  Chi  nose 
exclusion  laws  shall  be  issued  by  United  States  Commission- 
ers, excepting  upon  the  sworn  complaint  of  a  United  States 
District  Attorney,  Assistant  United  States  District  Attorney, 
Collector  or  Inspector  of  Customs,  Immigration  Inspector, 
United  States  Marshal,  or  Deputy  United  States  Marshal,  or 
Chinese  Inspector,  unless  the  issuing  of  such  warrant  of  ar- 
rest shall  first  be  approved  or  requested  in  writing  by  the 
United  States  District  Attorney  of  the  district  in  which  is- 
sued." 

How  this  law  has  been  observed  by  United  States  officials, 
and  how  carefully  the  spirit  of  it  has  been  observed,  is  plain 
from  the  fact  that,  on  a  Sunday  evening  in  October,  1903, 
about  three  hundred  Chinamen  were  dragged  from  their 
homes,  restaurants,  clubrooms  and  shops,  in  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts,  by  police  under  the  control  of  United 
States  Chinese  inspectors  under  the  orders  of  the  Immigra- 
tion Commissioner  of  the  port,  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  the 
Federal  building,  and  all  without  any  warrant  at  all,  unless 
one  or  two  warrants  first  issued  can  be  said  to  have  justified 
the  proceeding.  The  next  day  warrants  were  sworn  out  for 
the  men  the  officials  dared  to  hold— about  one  hundred  in 
number.  A  United  States  District  Judge  surprised  the  able 
counsel  who  took  the  matter  before  him  on  behalf  of  the 
Chinese  by  deciding  that  this  raid  was  lawful,  and  that  the 
arrests  were  lawful,  though  without  warrants  for  all  but  two 
of  the  arrested  persons,  although  Article  IV  of  the  treaty  of 
1894  was  then  still  in  force.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  Chi- 
nese persons  were  at  the  time  entitled  by  treaty  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States;  and  that  Section  1977  of  the 
United  States  Revised  Statutes  said  that:  "All  persons  with- 
in the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  shall  have  the  same 
right  *  *  *  to  the  full  and  equal  benefits  of  all  laws 
and  proceedings  for  the  security  of  persons  and  property,  as 
is  enjoyed  by  white  citizens,  and  shall  be  subject  to  like  pun- 
ishment, pains,  penalties,  taxes,  licenses  and  executions  of 
every  kind,  and  to  no  other." 

Would  the  judge  in  question  have  decided  that  such  pro- 
ceedings were  legal  if  three  hundred  British  or  German  sub- 

203 


jects  or  French  citizens  had  been  raided  and  imprisoned  with- 
out warrants?" 

The  foregoing  extracts  from  our  treaties  with  China,  and 
most  of  the  comments  thereon,  are  taken  from  the  article  of 
Mr.  Nickerson  in  the  North  American  Review  of  September, 
1905. 

They  most  conclusively  prove  that  we  have  broken  our 
treaty  engagements  with  the  Chinese  government.  And  the 
whole  history  of  our  legislative  relations  with  China  since 
1880  indicates  one  policy,  and  that  is  to  make  it  as  difficult  as 
possible  to  land  a  Chinaman  in  this  country,  although  a 
solemn  treaty,  never  solicited  by  his  own  government,  grants 
him  that  natural  and  lawful  right.  The  administration  offi- 
cials execute  the  laws  as  if  it  were  not  their  function  to 
allow  Chinese  people  to  enter,  but  as  if  it  were  their  whole 
duty  to  keep  them  out.  They  act  as  if  a  Chinese  person,  once 
allowed  to  pass  their  guards  and  enter  this  country,  was  a 
complete  loss  to  them.  The  decisions  of  the  courts  and  of  the 
various  officials  connected  with  the  Chinese  Bureau  are  codi- 
fied into  a  body  of  laws  that  for  downright  cruelty  and 
colossal  absurdity  cannot  be  duplicated  among  civilized  na- 
tions. 

And  these  laws  are  made  to  keep  out  a  people  with  whom 
we  are  seeking  the  closest  commercial  relations  and  the  most 
liberal  trade  concessions  and  privileges ! 

It  is  folly  to  flatter  ourselves  that  we  can  go  on  in  this 
way  insulting  an  old,  cultured  and  high-spirited  nation,  and 
do  so  with  impunity.  Have  we  received  no  lesson  from  Japan  ? 
We  look  with  amazement  upon  her  advance  in  the  arts  of 
peace  and  of  war,  especially  in  the  art  of  naval  warfare.  What 
Japan  has  done,  China  can  and  may  do.  They  are  essentially 
ane  people,  with  the  same  religion,  philosophy  and  destiny. 
Is  it  not  wise  to  conciliate  rather  than  antagonize  them? 
Even  as  I  write,  the  very  latest  news  from  Pekin  says  that: 
uThe  army  maneuvers  which  have  just  been  completed  great- 
ly impressed  witnessing  engineers,  especially  those  acquainted 
with  the  condition  of  Chinese  troops  five  years  ago." 

That  this  is  the  result  of  contact  with,  and  instruction  from*, 
the  Japanese,  appears  from  the.  same  dispatch,  which  goes  on 
to  say:  "The  troops  gave  evidence  of  Japanese  training,  and 

204 


one  attache  remarked  that  he  had  seen  twenty  Japanese  in 
Chinese  uniforms." 

Let  us  remember  that  before  the  Battle  of  the  Yalu,  the 
Japanese  maneuvers  received  no  such  favorable  comment,  and 
probably  did  not  merit  it.  Perhaps  a  few  dispatches  like  the 
foregoing  may  set  us  thinking.  And  it  is  barely  possible  that 
our  statesmen  may  be  induced  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with 
China  without  pandering  to  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor.  (It  might  be  interesting  to  learn  what  percentage  of 
the  membership  in  the  said  *  *  American ' '  Federation  of  Labor 
are  American  citizens.)  We  need  a  treaty  with  China  that 
will  nullify  all  the  vicious  laws  on  our  statute  books  growing 
out  of  Chinese  immigration,  and  which  officials  may  enforce 
even  against  white  citizens,  when  the  ocacsion  requires  such  a 
proceeding. 

Mr.  Nickerson  closes  the  article  from  which  I  have  just 
quoted  with  the  following  sentence:  "The  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Courts  have  progressed  in  their  harsh  interpretation 
of  the  rights  of  persons  of  Chinese  descent  until  the  last  de- 
cision of  the  majority  of  that  body  is  a  grave  menace  to  the 
liberty  of  white  American  citizens." 

This  is  what  we  invariably  get  foi  eny  attempt  to  abridge 
liberty.  "But  if,  while  there  is  yet  t'me,  we  turn  to  Justice 
and  obey  her,  if  we  trust  Liberty  and  follow  her,  the  dangers 
that  now  threaten  must  disappear,  the  forces  that  now  menace 
will  turn  to  agencies  of  elevation."  This  is  the  language  of 
inspiration,  written  by  the  man  who  formulated  the  princi- 
ples that  humanity  must  soon  accept  or  suffer  the  inevitable 
ills  that  now  threaten  us  for  our  persistent  refusal  to  trust 
and  act  upon  that  immortal  declaration  on  which  our  Govern- 
ments rests. 

It  would  be  humiliating  and  disheartening  to  dwell  upon 
our  failures  in  government— our  denials  of  justice  to  those 
who  most  need  its  protection— our  general  departure  from  the 
political  creed  of  our  fathers,  if  we  did  not  know  that  God 
reigns  and  that,  in  His  own  good  time,  we  shall  see  His  sign 
in  the  heavens,  under  which  we  shall  surely  conquer. 

If  our  contact  with  the  Asiatic  nations  compels  us  to  do 
justice  to  our  own  people,  then  indeed  will  their  coming  have 
proved  a  blessing,  and  the  old  Latin  saying,  "Ex  Oriente 
Lux,"  will  find  a  new  and  broader  application. 

205 


For  the  past  fifty  years  every  writer  who  has  written  of 
our  relations  with  the  East  has  dwelt  upon  the  desirability 
of  our  getting  our  share  of  the  Oriental  trade,  and,  indeed,  of 
its  absolute  necessity  to  us.  Now  we  may  safely  assert  that 
our  natural  share  of  this  trade  cannot  possibly  be  coaxed  to 
our  shores  as  long  as  our  statute  books  retain  legislation  so 
hostile  to  Chinese  immigrants.  But  a  few  days  since  ap- 
peared the  statistics  of  our  trade  with  Japan.  From  Wash- 
ington we  learn  that  our  trade  with  that  country  for  the  year 
ending  with  last  September  was  $142,659,000!  The  same 
dispatch  assures  us  that  our  exports  to  the  Chinese  Empire, 
for  the  same  period,  reached  the  value  of  only  $52,516,361! 
Another  dispatch  of  the  same  month  tells  us  that  the  total 
value  of  the  trade  of  the  Orient  is  three  thousand  million  dol- 
'lars  a  year.  And  we  are  further  informed  that,  of  all  this 
Oriental  trade,  we  get  about  ten  per  cent,  while  Great  Brit- 
ain receives  60  per  cent!  This  is  the  real  wealth  of  "Ormus 
and  of  Ind,"  the  commercial  prize  so  richly  worth  striving 
for.  Arc  we  satisfied  with  but  10  per  cent  of  that  vast  trade  ? 
A  trade  that  is  constantly  and  rapidly  increasing  and  must 
continue  to  do  so  as  civilization  progresses? 

Look  at  the  figures  from  Japan  and  compare  them  with  the 
estimates  of  the  China  trade!  Remember  that  what  Japan 
has  achieved  in  trade  China  may  achieve,  yea,  more  than  ten- 
fold. For  we  know  that  in  every  large  commercial  house  in 
Japan  they  have  a  Chinese  "  comprador "  to  guarantee  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  trade.  Is  it  not  a  shame  that,  the  law  hinders 
the  policy-holders  of  our  great  life  insurance  companies  from 
importing  a  few  of  these  same  Chinese  compradors  to  straight- 
en out  the  tangle  into  which  their  high-salaried  officials  have 
gotten  them  ? 

A  recent  writer,  Mr.  Little,  tells  us  that  China  has  twenty- 
seven  times  the  area  of  Japan.  And  we  might  add  that  it  has 
nine  times  the  population.  Here  surely  is  food  for  thought 
and  the  legitimate  exercise  of  our  imagination.  Our  com- 
petitive civilization  and  expansive  industries  absolutely  com- 
pel us  to  seek  a  foreign  market  for  our  surplus  products.  It 
is  stated  that  we  consume  92  per  cent  of  our  own  products. 
Consequently,  we  have  but  8  per  cent  for  export.  But  any 
hindrance  to  the  disposal  of  that  8  per  cent  would  utterly 
confuse  our  commercial  relations  and  create  widespread  suf- 

206 


fering  among  our  own  people.  Just  the  difference  of  1  per 
cent  per  annum  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  ledger  would  ulti- 
mately but  certainly  bankrupt  the  merchant. 

The  careless  reader  may  think  that  we  have  no  need  to 
worry  about  the  disposal  of  this  8  per  cent  in  export  trade, 
and  that  it  does  not  amount  to  much  anyway.  A  few  figures 
will  dispel  that  notion.  In  1904  our  export  trade  to  Germany 
alone  was  $215,000,000.  It  had  risen  to  that  figure  from 
$93,000,000  in  1891.  Here  we  have  an  increase  of  more  than 
131  per  cent.  This  larger  sum  is  only  exceeded  by  our  ex- 
ports to  Great  Britain. 

But  before  we  felicitate  ourselves  on  this  ratio  of  increase 
in  our  foreign  trade  with  Germany,  let  us  remember  that 
Germany  has  taken  lessons  of  us  and  adopted  a  protective 
tariff.  We  taught  her  the  tariff  trick  and  she  is  improving 
upon  the  lesson.  But  it  is  to  our  serious  detriment. 

Our  present  tariff  relations  with  Germany  will  expire  next 
March,  and  it  is  expected  that  our  export  trade  to  that  coun- 
try will  diminish  at  least  25  per  cent.  This  is  serious.  It 
concerns  every  product  in  the  United  States. 

Again:  The  commercial  status  of  Great  Britain,  our  best 
customer,  is  by  no  means  fixed.  Mr.  Chamberlain,  her  able 
statesman,  has  been  fighting  a  long  while  for  a  preferential 
tariff  with  the  colonies  of  Great  Britain.  In  comparison  with 
Germany,  Great  Britain  has  been  losing  ground,  commer- 
cially, for  some  time.  And  it  need  not  surprise  anyone  to 
find  that  our  greatest  market  may  be  partially  closed  against 
us 

Hence,  with  all  these  facts  staring  us  in  the  face,  does  it 
not  behoove  us  to  sedulously  cultivate  friendly  relations  with 
China?  But  how  can  we  reasonably  expect  friendly  rela- 
tions with  a  great  nation  while  we  continually  persecute  her 
citizens  and  insult  herself?  Remember  that  we  must  find  a 
foreign  market  for  our  surplus  product.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  our  national  prosperity,  if  not  even  to  our  exist- 
ence, that  we  dispose  of  it  in  trade.  And,  as  the  lover  of 
freedom  ask  for  more  democracy,  for  the  correction  of  abuses 
of  freedom  already  existing,  so  the  trade  unionist  will  clamor 
for  more  exclusion  acts  for  his  increased  "protection." 

That  I  may  state  the  position  of  the  advocates  of  exclusion 
more  explicitly,  I  will  quote  a  paragraph  from  Mr.  Mac- 

207 


arthur's  address  delivered  before  the  Iroquois  Chib  in  this 
city,  August  5,  1905.  Among  other  things  he  said:  "I  think 
it  is  better  to  lose  Chinese  trade  than  to  throw  down  the  bars 
for  the  admission  of  coolie  laborers.  What  will  it  profit  this 
country  to  win  the  good  will  of  China  or  Japan,  if  in  doing  so 
it  must  forfeit  the  heritage  of  the  people,  the  soil  for  which 
our  forefathers  bled?" 

The^e  are  bold  words.  But  they  are  not  wise.  Nor  do  they 
harmonize  with  the  facts.  The  good  will  of  China  and  Japan 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  our  trade  relations  with  those  coun- 
tries. Nor  does  friendship  for  the  Asiatic  peoples  imperil  our 
own  heritage.  On  the  contrary,  if  we  wish  to  preserve  the 
productiveness  of  our  soil,  we  must  use  the  very  methods 
which  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  employ.  We  must  restore 
to  the  soil  an  equivalent  for  the  fertilizing  matter  which  is 
taken  from  it.  On  this  the  Asiatic  can  teach  us  something. 

Again:  Where  is  the  single,  specifice  measure  that  Mr. 
Macarthur  and  his  associates  have  advocated  that  would  set 
the  soil  of  his  forefathers  free  to  the  access  of  the  people  who 
are  most  entitled  to  its  use  1  It  has  been  remarked  more  than 
once  that  the  most  virulent  opponents  to  the  doctrines  of 
Henry  George  are  the  trade  unionists.  And  it  is  shrewdly 
alleged  that  the  reason  of  this  opposition  is  that  the  leaders 
— who  are  paid  fat  salaries — would  be  in  danger  of  losing 
their  jobs  if  George's  theory  were  put  into  practice,  as  there 
would  be  little  left  for  them  to  do  along  the  line  of  their 
present  activity. 

If  I  do  not  mistake,  I  have  now  shown  the  reader  that 
friendly  relations  with  China  and  the  Far  East  are  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  people  of  the  United  States.  And  that  the 
first  step  towards  those  friendly  relations  must  be  the  radical 
revision  of  our  present  treaty  with  China.  And  then  we 
must  treat  the  Chinese  people,  who  have  been  encouraged  by 
treaty  to  enter  and  remain  in  our  territory,  the  same  as  we 
treat  other  foreigners  who  are  sojourning  with  us. 

Again :  If  we  desire  to  sell  more  of  our  surplus  products 
to  China,  we  must  reciprocate.  Under  present  conditions, 
China  has  a  surplus  of  laborers— her  human  product.  Hardy 
and  industrious,  they  have  strength  and  skill  for  sale.  Ours 
is  their  best  market  and  there  is  no  good  and  sufficient  reason 
why  we  should  not  utilize  what  is  thus  offeredlis. 

208 


Our  country  needs  at  least  five  hundred  thousand  Asiatic 
laborers,  intelligent  and  competent.  And  when  Mr.  Mac- 
arthur  and  his  associates  are  wise  enough  to  enact  into  statute 
the  formula  enunciated  by  the  printer-prophet  of  San  Fran 
eisco,  then  the  coming  of  our  elder  brethren  from  the  Far 
East  will  be  welcomed.  And  even  Mr.  Macarthur  will  be  ben- 
efited by  their  coming. 

We  have  shown  that  in  this  country,  at  least,  there  is  no 
danger  of  population  pressing  upon  the  limits  of  subsistence. 
But  that  it  is  constantly  pressing  upon  the  fences  of  privilege, 
and  the  enclosures  of  franchise;  and  will  continue  to  do  so 
until  the  people  have  sense  enough  to  let  down  the  bars  and 
remove  the  fences  that  hinder  free  access  to  the  natural  re- 
sources which  they  enclose. 

Yes,  that  is  the  solution  of  the  problem:  Trust  in  God— set 
free  the  land,  the  support  of  all  if e— adjust  transportation 
and  exchange  in  accordance  with  modern  knowledge  and  so- 
cial needs.  The  force  thus  set  free  will  revolutionize  the 
conditions  of  men  and  hasten  the  day  when  the  toiler  can  sit 
ander  his  own  vine  and  fig  tree,  with  none  to  molest  or  make 
him  afraid.  "With  free  access  to  the  soil  and  fredom  to  ex- 
change its  products  with  all  mankind,  we  need  have  no  fear 
of  over-production;  as  the  gratification  of  man's  desire  has 
always  been  the  incentive  to  progress.  There  is  no  condition 
conceivable  where  the  cultured  demands  of  humanity  can  be 
satisfied.  No  man  has  .ever  exhausted  the  inherent  resources 
of  an  acre  of  land.  Desire  is  an  infinite  attribute  of  human- 
ity. The  capacity  to  satisfy  it  is  finite  and  limited. 

'  *  Think  of  the  powers  now  wasted ;  of  the  infinite  fields  of 
knowledge  yet  to  be  explored;;  of  the  possibilities  of  which 
the  wondrous  inventions  of  this  century  give  us  but  a  hint. 
With  want  destroyed;  with  greed  changed  to  noble  passion; 
with  the  fraternity  that  is  born  of  equality  taking  the  place  of 
the  jealousy  and  fear  that  now  array  men  against  each  other; 
with  mental  power  loosed  by  conditions  that  give  to  the 
humblest  comfort  and  leisure,  and  who  shall  measure  the 
heights  to  which  civilization  may  soar? 

"Words  fail  the  thought!  It  is  the  Golden  Age  of  which 
poets  have  sung  and  high-raised  seers  have  told  in  metaphor. 
It  is  the  glorious  vision  which  has  always  haunted  man  with 
gleams  of  fitful  splendor.  It  is  what  he  saw  whose  eyes  were 

209 


closed  as  in  a  trance  at  Patmos.  It  is  the  culmination  of 
Christianity— the  city  of  God  on  earth,  with  its  walls  of  jasper 
and  its  gates  of  pearl.  It  is  the  reign  of  the  Prince  of  Peace !" 

To  aid  in  the  attainment  of  the  conditions  so  eloquently  de- 
scribed by  the  printer-prophet  who  has  given  us  the  antidote 
to  the  poison  of  exclusion  acts,  I  ask  the  workingmen  them- 
selves to  extend  the  same  right  to  the  Chinaman  that  we  did 
to  the  negro.  Let  us  take  from  his  path  all  restrictions  of 
treaty  and  statute.  Let  us  grant  to  him  the  rights  that  we 
ask  for  ourselves,  and  admit  him  to  all  the  privileges  and 
duties  of  American  citizenship. 

Then  we  may  not  look  with  such  contempt  upon  the  race 
that  has  given  to  history  Confucius,  Mencius,  Jenghis  Khan 
and  Timour. 

"Yea,  here  we  sit  by  the  Golden  Gate; 

Nor  demanding  much,  but  inviting  you  all. 
Nor  publishing  loud,  but  daring  to  wait. 

And  great  in  much  that  the  days  seem  small. 
And  the  gate,  it  is  God's,  to  Cathay,  Japan; 

And  who  shall  shut  it  in  the  face  of  man !" 


2IO 


APPENDIX 


Era  of  Persecution 


The  present  crusade  against  the  Asiatics  now  resident  in 
California  and  throughout  the  country  is  the  direct  and  legiti- 
mate outcome  of  the  antipathy  that  people  of  so-called  Anglo- 
Saxon  origin  have  against  ''people  of  color."  Many  oi*  our 
early  law  makers,  here  in  California,  were  formerly  citizens 
of  the  slave  States.  Their  judgment  was  warped  by  long 
contact  with  the  " peculiar  institution."  One  of  the  California 
statutes  of  1850,  provides  that  "No  black  or  Mulatto  person, 
Dr  Indian  shall  be  permitted  to  give  evidence  in  favor  of  or 
against  any  white  person." 

This  vicious  and  discriminating  statute  was  confirmed  by 
the  California  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  "The  People  vs. 
Hall."  Wherein  the  Court  held  "that  the  words  Indian, 
Negro,  Black  and  White  are  generic  terms  designating  race. 
That  therefore  Chinese  and  all  other  peoples,  not  white,  are 
included  in  the  prohibition  from  being  witnesses '  against 
Whites."  Chief  Justice  Murray,  who  delivered  the  opinion, 
was  an  able  lawyer  at  a  time  when  there  were  many  brilliant 
jurists  in  this  State.  But,  like  Judge  Taney,  who  "handed 
down"  the  Dred-Scott  decision,  in  1856,  he  was  a  man  with 
the  instincts  of  the  South  in  his  very  blood,  and  we'could  not 
expect  him,  at  that  early  day,  to  be  more  liberal  than  his 
environment  and  education  justified.  In  building  a  founda- 
tion for  this  decision  he  reviewed  the  various  theories  set  forth 
by  the  ethnologists  of  his  time,  and  accepted  the  one  that  best 
fitted  his  theory  of  the  law. 

Ethnology  was,  in  Judge  Murray's  day,  under  the  influence 
of  Blumenbach  and  contemporary  naturalists.  It  is  now 

211 


known  that  their  knowledge  was  necessarily  meager  and  that 
their  racial  classification  was  arbitrary,  if  not  whimsical. 

Yet,  if  Justice  Murray  desired  to  construe  the  statute  with 
the  law  of  human  freedom,  he  might  have  taken  some  inspira- 
tion from  ' '  Your  good  friend, ' '  John  Tylers  letter,  which  was 
written  in  1843.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Tyler  said, 
among  other  simple  and  sweet  things:  "We  shall  not  take 
the  part  of  evil  doers.  We  shall  not  uphold  them  that  break 
our  laws."  Then  the  Court  had  the  Fifth  Amendment  of  the 
United  States  Constitution  as  a  guide  to  the  liberal  construc- 
tion of  the  law.  The  following  sentence  from  that  Amend- 
ment should  have  suggested  to  Justice  Murray  that  the  China- 
man before  his  Court  was  "without  due  process  of  law." 
"Nor  shall  (any  person)  be  compelled,  in  any  criminal  case, 
to  be  a  witness  against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  lib- 
erty or  property,  without  due  process  of  law."  I  am  not  a 
lawyer,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  a  man  who  is  not  permitted 
to  testify  in  his  own  behalf,  is  virtually  "a  witness  against 
himself". 

Then  the  following  sentence  from  Article  19  of  the  Treaty 
of  Pwan  Tang,  proclaimed  in  1846,  was  a  part  of  the  law  of 
the  land,  and  was  probably  on  Justice  Murray's  desk  while 
he  was  writing  the  opinion  that  caused  so  much  bloodshed  in 
California. 

"All  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  China,  peaceably 
attending  to  their  affairs,  being  placed  on  a  common 
footing  of  amity  and  good  will  with  the  subjects  of  China, 
shall  receive  and  enjoy  for  themselves  and  everything  ap- 
pertaining to  them,  the  special  protection  of  the  local 
authorities  of  Government,  who  shall  defend  them  from 
all  insult,  or  injury,  of  any  sort  on  the  part  of  the  Chi- 
nese." 

The  foregoing  sentiments  are  humane  and  considerate  and 
display  proper  solicitude  for  the  safety  of  our  citizens  who 
were  sojourning  on  Chinese  territory. 

John  Tyler  said,  in  his  letter:  "Let  there  be  no  unfair  ad- 
vantage on  either  side."  With  this  reciprocal  sentiment  and 
the  sentence  from  the  treaty  just  quoted,  it  seems  as  if 
Justice  Murray  might  have  so  interpreted  the  statute  that  the 

212 


foundations  and  guarantees  of  human  freedom  would  have 
been  strengthened,  and  the  sentiments  of  "Your  good  friend" 
John  Tyler's  letter  would  not  have  been  proclaimed  a  lie. 

At  this  late  date  it  is  perhaps  useless  for  a  layman  to  criti- 
size  the  legal  reasoning  of  Justice  Murray,  in  the  foregoing 
decision.  Yet  in  the  light  of  the  decision  of  the  U.  S.  Supreme 
Court,  in  the  case  of  the  United  States  vs.  Ju  Toy,  it  behooves 
every  citizen — of  this  country — especially  if  he  be  of  foreign 
birth — to  look  to  the  safeguards  that  surround  his  right  to 
live  on  American  soil. 

The  Statute  of  1850  seems  plain  to  the  common  man.  It 
prohibits  Blacks,  Mnlattoes,  or  Indians  from  giving  evidence 
in  favor  of  or  against  any  White  person.  Does  it  not  seem 
reasonable  that  if  the  legislators  intended  to  include  other 
races  in  this  prohibitory  clause  they  would  have  mentioned 
those  races.  The  Chinese  were  in  the  State  since  1848,  two 
years  before  the  Statute  was  made,  and  the  legislators  must 
have  known  this  fact.  And  having  known  it  is  not  reasonable 
to  conclude  that  if  they  intended  to  prohibit  Chinese  from 
testifying,  for  or  against  a  white  man,  they  would  have  said 
no.  This  case  seems  to  have  been  decided  on  the  principle 
that  whatever  is  not  allowed  in  express  terms  is  disallowed, 
the  very  principle  which  stated  in  other  and  more  precise 
legal  phraseology,  has  been  used  to  give  effectiveness  to  the 
present  Chinese  exclusion  laws. 

I  think  that  the  law,  as  laid  down,  is  somewhat  as  follows: 

The  true  theory  is  not  that  all  Chinese  persons  may  enter 
this  country  who  are  not  forbidden,  but  that  only  those  arc 
entitled  to  enter  who  are  expressly  allowed. 

This  principle  of  interpreting  silence  and  negation  in  a 
positive  manner  against  the  liberty  of  the  individual,  I  believe 
to  be  a  practice— to  put  it  mildly— that  is  "more  honored  in 
the  breach  than  in  the  observance. ' ' 

As  the  Negro  citizen  of  the  United  States  has  sad  and  bitter 
reason  to  remember  the  Dred-Scott  decision,  so  the  Chinese 
residents  of  the  State,  since  1854,  have  had  grevious  cause 
to  remember  the  decision  "handed  down"  in  the  case  of 
The  People  vs.  Hall.  And  it  is  a  legitimate  statement  to  make 
that  the  eighty-five  murders  recited  by  the  legislative  com- 

213 


inittee  of  1862,  may  be  laid  to  the  vicious  principle  affirmed 
by  Justice  Murray. 

This  devilish  statute  remained  the  law  of  the  State  of 
California  until  the  Codes  of  1873  went  into  effect,  notwith- 
standing that  the  following  statute  was  enacted  by  Congress, 
May  31,  1870: 

"All  persons  ivitliin   the  jurisdiction  of  the   United 
States  shall  have  the  same  right  in  every  State  and  Terri- 
tory to  make  and  enforce  contracts  to  sue,  be  parties, 
give  evidence  and  to  the  full  and  equal  benefit  of  all  laivs 
and  proceedings  for  the  security  of  persons  and  property , 
as  is  enjoyed  by  white  citizens,  and  shall  be  subjr.ct  to 
like  punishment,  pains,  penalties,  taxes,  licenses  and  ex- 
actions of  every  kind  and  to  no  other. tf 
The  foregoing  statute  should  have  been  the  law  of  the  land 
from  the  foundation  of  our  government. 

Here  follows  a  list  of  outrages  taken  at  random  from  a 
file  of  the  San  Francisco  Evening  Bulletin,  from  Dec.  3,  1855, 
to  September  29,  1876.  They  are  a  portion  of  262  outrages, 
published  in  only  one  of  the  newspapers  of  the  State  at  that 
period. 

August  18,  1856.— Marysville  Herald.— A  murder  was 
committed  about  a  week  ago  on  Sunken  Bar,  on  the  middle 
fork  of  Feather  river.  Three  men  entered  the  tont  of  China- 
men at  the  bar,  and  demanded  and  took  away  all  they  had; 
afterwards  took  them  out,  tied  them  and  deliberately  com- 
menced shooting  at  them.  One  got  away  and  gave  the  alarm. 
When  parties  reached  there,  they  found  the  bodies  had  been 
dragged  to  the  river  and  thrown  in. 

December  18,  1856.— Supposed  to  be  something  wonderful. 
— F.  Blair  is  to-be  executed  at  Shasta,  on  the  16th  of  January, 
1857,  for  the  murder  of  a  Chinaman. 

The  crime  was  committed  in  October  last,  near  Portugese 
Flat,  Shasta  county.  The  Shasta  Republican  says:  "Hun- 
dreds of  Chinamen  have  been  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  dur- 
ing the  last  five  years  by  desperadoes  that  infest  our  state. 
The  murder  of  Chinamen  was  of  almost  daily  occurrence, 
yet  in  all  this  time  we  have  heard  of  but  two  or  three 
instances  where  the  guilty  parties  have  been  brought  to 
justice  and  punished  according  to  law. 

214 


Many  persons  have  avowed  themselves  opposed  to  execu- 
tion of  white  men  for  the  murder  of  Chinamen.  It  seems 
to  us,  that  a  sentiment  more  outrageous  to  all  principles  of 
justice  could  not  be  conceived.  The  life  of  a  Chinaman  is 
as  sacred  to  the  law  as  that  of  any  other  human  being.  China- 
men are  weak  and  defenseless.  Even  the  digger  Indians  hold 
them  at  mercy.  We  do  not,  therefore,  regret  to  see  white 
men  punished  for  the  murder  of  Chinamen.  White  men 
who  kill  Chinamen  are  guilty  of  murder  of  the  most  cowardly 
character.  The  helplessness  of  the  victim  aggravates,  rather 
than  palliates  the  crime. 

January  21,  1857.— Execution  of  Blair  of  Shasta  has  been 
postponed  by  the  Governor  until  the  6th  of  March  next. 
He  was  not  hung,  after  all. 

February  8,  1857.— Petition  of  James  Hanleyj  Chinese  in- 
terpreter of  Chinese  Camp,  Tuolnmne  county,  to  J.  Meeley 
Johnson,  Governor  of  the  State  of  California: 

"A  plea  for  the  Chinese  to  be  heard  as  witnesses  in  our 
courts  of  justice."  On  the  29th  of  January,  an  affray  took 
place  in  Montezuma,  three  miles  from  the  above-named  place. 
Four  Americans  and  five  Chinese  came  into  collision  in  which 
each  of  the  Chinese  had  his  skull  fractured.  One  of  them 
died  on  the  31st,  two  others  are  not  expected  to  live,  and 
the  rest  are  very  much  disabled. 

On  the  29th  of  May,  the  five  Chinamen  bought  a  claim 
from  a  miner  named  William  Smith,  who  gave  them  a  cor- 
ticate for  the  same.  From  that  time  they  held  peaceful 
possession  until  the  white  men  came  along,  and  the  men  were 
instantly  arrested,  and  brought  before  Mr.  Parker,  the  magis- 
trate of  the  township,  who  had  to  dismiss  the  case  on  ac- 
count of  Chinese  testimony  being  invalid. 

March  4,  1857.— The  Calaveras  Chronicle  mentions  a  case 
where  fifteen  or  twenty  Chinese  were  taken  before  Justice 
Stevens  at  Andreas,  on  Tuesday  last,  on  charge  of  gambling. 
The  Judee  imposed  a  fine  of  $500  on  each,  making  in  all 
$7000.  The  Johns  refused  to  pay  and  were  locked  up.  They 
were  taken  before  Judge  Porter,  on  a  habeas  corpus,  to 
Mokelumne  Hill,  but  were  sent  back  to  jail.  The  imposition 
of  a  fine  of  $500,  upon  the  poor,  ignorant,  inoffensive  crea- 

215 


tures,  seems  very  severe,  as  white  men  are  invariably  let  off 
with  a  fine  of  $100  and  seldom  ever  punished  at  all. 

April  7,  1857.— The  citizens  of  Long  Bar  held  a  meeting  on 
the  eevning  of  the  4th  inst.,  when  they  passed  a  resolution 
approving  of  the  conduct  of  the  people  of  Bangor  in  recently 
executing  three  desperadoes  and  confessed  robbers. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  absence  of  law  to  punish  white  men 
on  Chinese  testimony,  it  behooves  each  mining  community 
to  protect  the  Chinese  of  their  locality,  and  after  fully  in- 
vestigating an  act  of  wrong  or  desperation,  either  to  persons 
nr  property  of  Chinese,  that  punishment  should  follow,  a 
finding  of  guilty  even  to  death.  That  from  the  facts  as  we 
have  received  them  from  reliable  sources,  we  are  convinced  of 
the  guilt  of  the  three  men  executed,  and  we  fully  endorse 
the  acts  of  the  citizens  of  Bangor,  that  while  we  have  no  wish 
to  interfere  with  the  editor's  management  of  the  Marysville 
Express,  we  would  respectfully  intimate  to  him  that  the  cry 
for  law  and  order  is  looked  upon  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
community  as  meaning  nothing  less  than  the  protection  to 
murderers,  thieves  and  gamblers. 

August  17.  1857.— The  Hormitos  Democrat  states:— A  few 
slays  ago  four  American  robbers  entered  a  Chinese  camp  on 
the  Chowchilla  river,  and  demanded  all  their  gold  dust. 
Upon  their  refusing  they  drew  their  revolvers  and  shot  one 
Chinamnn  dead  on  the  spot.  Upon  seeing  this  the  Chinese 
delivered  over  the  sum  of  $250,  and  left  at  once  their  camp 
and  are  on  their  way  to  Merced  river  where  they  have  more 
protection  than  here. 

March  1,  1857.— The  Sacramento  Bee  reporter  from  Ew- 
ing's  Canyon,  upper  crossing  of  the  Consummes,  February 
23rd,  says: 

Today  the  Chinamen  of  the  vicinity  were  visited  by  the 
raining  tax  colectors  (which  happened  once  a  mouth).  The 
Chinese  were  treated  most  brutally  by  them.  In  the  ab- 
nence  of  white  men  to  witness  the  proceedings  they  beat  them 
with  a  whip,  most  unmercifully.  I  saw  one  man  whose  back 
was  beaten  to  a  jelly  by  those  courageous  servants  of  the  peo- 
ple. Chinamen  do  not  appear  to  have  adequate  protection 
from  the  assaults  of  persons  who  usually  discharge  the  duties 
of  foreign  miners'  tax  collectors. 

216 


March  9.— The  Sacramento  Union  says:— On  Thursday, 
the  4th  of  March,  a  mob  of  about  150  persons  of  foreign  birth 
assembled  near  Alder  creek  in  Sacramento  county  to  expell 
all  the  Chinamen.  Holfort  Anderson  and  Michael  Wallace 
made  speeches  and  then  the  mob  marched  a  circuit  about 
ten  miles,  driving  the  Chinese  away,  tearing  up  their  sluices, 
raising  their  dwellings,  beating  and  maltreating  them.  About 
200  of  the  Chinese  were  deprived  of  their  homes  and  prop- 
3rty.  One  object  was,  no  doubt,  plunder,  as  we  heard  in 
several  instances,  they  took  the  money  away  from  them. 
Another  object  was  to  take  their  claims  away,  which  most 
of  them  had  purchased  of  their  robbers  at  a  time  before.  We 
learn  that  the  grand  jury  has  taken  the  case  in  hand.  On  the 
6th  inst.  Sheriff  Manlove  and  three  deputies  proceeded  to 
Folsom  and  arrested  17  persons,  among  them  the  above-named 
leaders,  and  took  them  to  Sacramento.  The  Grand  Jury 
have  found  a  true  bill  against  them. 

November  24,  1857.— On  the  20th  inst.  at  a  meeting  of 
miners  of  the  Agua  Fria  district,  Mariposa  County,  J.  W. 
Rony,  chairman,  and  S.  W.  Smith,  secretary,  states  the 
Mariposa  Gazette:  It  was  resolved,  we  have  by  the  general 
government  permission  to  make  our  own  laws,  without  con- 
sulting the  miners  of  other  districts.  That  we  will  enforce 
our  laws  and  regulations.  The  regulations  which  have  been 
in  vogue  for  two  and  a  half  years,  prohibiting  Chinamen  from 
working  within  our  district,  shall  be  the  rule  and  law  of  this 
district.  If  any  Chinaman  stop  in  this  district  to  mine,  he 
must  leave  within  forty-eight  hours  after  being  notified  by 
three  miners,  at  least.  If  they  do  not  leave,  the 
miners  of  the  district  shall  compel  them  to  leave 
and  inflict  such  punishment  as  they  may  deem  proper. 
That  these  laws  shall  be  good  until  repealed. 
A  committee  of  five,  Purdy,  White,  Pain,  Allen  and 
Alexander,  were  appointed  to  warn  the  Chinamen  to  leave, 
in  terms  of  the  resolution. 

April  30,  1862.— Mariposa  Gazette  says:— There  are  about 
3000  Chinese  washing  gold  on  the  Fremont  estate.  The  com- 
mon tax,  $1  per  month,  is  charged  by  the  manager.  This 
the  Chinamen  cheerfully  pay  and  prefer  it  to  a  county  license 
for  the  reason  that  they  are  protected  and  their  claims  can- 

217 


not  be  jumped  by  a  loose  vagabond  who  is  desirous  of  making 
a  raise  out  of  Chinamen. 

August  1,  1864.— From  the  Downiville  Messenger,  July 
29.— "Last  Saturday  eight  Indians  visited  Fairfield  Bar  on 
Middle  Fork  of  Feather  river,  as  tax  collectors.  Two  old 
Chinamen  were  politely  requested  to  pungle  down  their  poll 
tax,  when  they  presented  their  receipts,  the  lord  of  the  forest 
assured  the  Johns,  that  the  said  papers  were  no  good.  Nothing 
short  of  cash  would  satisfy  the  demand.  The  Johns  having 
no  money,  the  tax  collectors  knocked  them  down  and  took 
away  rice,  pork  and  other  valuables  from  their  cabin  and 
departed. 

November  5,  1864.— C.  Cornbloom  was  arrested  yesterday 
for  obtaining  money  under  false  pretenses.  It  appears  that 
Cornbloom  called  upon  a  Chinese  merchant  a  few  days  ago 
and  stated  that  he  knew  of  a  Chinese  family  who  were  suf- 
fering from  destitution,  and  requested  the  Chinese  merchant 
to  write  a  petition  in  the  Chinese  language  to  be  used  in 
obtaining  subscriptions  among  those  people,  for  the  relief 
of  the  sufferers.  Aimed  with  this  document,  he  called  upon 
a  large  number  of  Chinese  mercantile  houses  who  subscribed 
very  liberally  and  Cornbloom  pocketed  the  proceeds.  The 
matter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Officer  Spiller,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  procuring  the  testimony  of  white  people  in  regard 
to  Cornbloom 's  operations. 

December  17.— On  Saturday  night  last,  says  the  Sacramento 
Union  of  December  15th,  at  a  place  called  Teats'  Flat,  about 
five  miles  this  side  of  Folsom,  on  the  American  river,  a 
company  of  Chinamen  were  called  upon  by  a  band  of  robbers 
and  ordered  to  deliver  up  their  valuables,  which  order  they 
refused  to  obey.  The  robbers  then  shot  two  of  the  Chinamen, 
but  they  were  not  dangerously  wounded.  This  so  frightened 
the  rest  of  the  Chinese  that  they  ran  away,  leaving  the  rob- 
bers all  they  had.  On  Thursday  night  the  same  Chinamen 
were  again  visited  by  a  band  of  robbers  and  order  to  deliver. 
The  Chinamen  became  desperate  at  receiving  calls  so  often 
and  commenced  shooting  at  the  robbers,  which  fire  proved  too 
hot  for  them,  causing  them  to  fly  without  booty,  the  prac- 
tice of  robbing  Chinese  has  become  so  frequent  of  late,  that 
scarcely  a  week  passes  by,  without  some  of  the  Chinamen 
being  attacked,  beaten  and  plundered. 

218 


February  12,  18fi7.— One  of  the  most  brutal  and  disgrace- 
ful  riots  which  has  ever  occurred  in  this  city,  ha«  l>een 
going  on  this  morning  near  the  Foot  of  Third  street,  and  at 
the  ropewalks  at  Hunter's  Point.  It  seems  that  Weed  &  An- 
derson contracted  for  grading  some  lots  on  Townsend  street, 
and  they  employed  30  Chinamen  to  work  for  them.  When 
it  became  known  to  Irishmen  who  had  been  engaged  in  that 
kind  of  work,  and  had  a  kind  of  union  amongst  them,  that 
Chinese  labor  would  be  employed,  they  threatened  to  prevent 
them  working.  The  Chinese  laborers  have  been  engaged  for 
several  days  past  in  erecting  a  small  building  in  which  they  in- 
tended living  during  their  time  of  employment,  which  was 
completed  yesterday.  About  8  o'clock  this  morning  a  party  of 
fifteen  Chinamen  were  set  to  work  by  the  foreman,  D.  S. 
Marshall,  they  had  no  sooner  commenced  to  work,  than  a 
party  of  white  people  appeared  and  commenced  throwing 
stones  and  missiles  at  them.  They  were  few  in  numbers,  and 
no  attention  was  paid  to  their  assaults.  A  short  time  after- 
wards, a  large  party  came  along  and  commenced  throwing 
bricks  and  stones,  with  yells  at  the  Chinamen,  assaulting  and 
beating  them  in  the  most  cruel  and  outrageous  manner; 
this  brought  a  great  many  more  white  laborers  to  the  spot. 
The  poor  creatures  attempted  to  escape,  and  were  surrounded 
by  the  crowd.  The  foreman,  Marsha]],  endeavored  to  resist 
the  assault,  when  he  was  knocked  down  by  a  heavy  rock 
which  struck  him  on  the  head:  he  was  also  badly  beaten,  his 
face  bruised  and  torn  and  his  chest  considerably  injured  from 
a  stone.  One  Chinaman  had  his  skull  fractured;  another 
had  his  face  beaten  almost  to  a  jelly;  afterwards  they  pulled 
the  house  down,  scattered  the  Chinamen's  provisions,  and  set 
the  contents  on  fire.  By  this  time  two  policemen  arrived, 
but  they  were  not  strong  enough  to  arrest  anyone,  so  with 
the  assistance  of  outsiders,  extinguished  the  fire;  afterwards 
the  crowd  went  to  the  ropewalks  to  clean  out,  as  they  yelled 
with  delight,  all  the  Chinamen  there.  At  their  arrival  there 
they  found  that  the  Chinamen  all  cleared  out  on  the  hills  in 
good  time;  they  afterwards  found  a  few,  and  handled  them 
roughly;  afterwards  they  set  fire  to  two  shanties  near  there, 
which  have  been  occupied  by  the  Chinamen,  and  burned  all 
the  contents.  Chief  Crowley  started  out  with  a  number  of 

219 


mounted  policemen,  and  when  he  arrived  there,  he  found  that 
there  were  too  many  roughs  there  for  his  party,  so  he  ad- 
dressed and  persuaded  them  to  go  home,  as  there  was  a  much 
larger  force  coming,  which  had  the  effect  of  inducing  them 
to  leave.  Afterwards  the  police  secured  some  of  them,  and 
we  have  no  doubt  that  they  will  be  sentenced  very  severely. 

March  18.— The  Stockton  Independent  has  the  following 
^•ensible  remark:— The  question  of  the  utility  of  Chinese  labor 
is  indeed  a  very  important  one  and  will  assume  features  of 
greater  importance  as  our  commerce  with  China  acquires  the 
strength  it  is  finally  destined  to  gain.  Our  people  are  made 
secure  in  their  lives  and  property  in  China,  by  a  treaty  be- 
tween the  two  Governments;  and  this  treaty  guarantees  to 
the  Chinamen  the  same  consideration  at  our  hands.  If 
their  presence  here  is  an  evil,  we  must  make  the  best  we  can 
out  of  it— at  least  until  such  a  time  as  our  Government  thinks 
the  matter  of  importance  enough  to  take  into  consideration. 
We  must  take  advantage  of  the  means  thrown  in  our  way, 
and  use  cheap  labor  in  many  of  our  new  enterprises,  and  to 
produce  the  raw  materials  which  will  make  employment  for 
our  other  labor,  business  for  our  cities,  commerce  for  our 
ships,  and  a  full  market  for  the  production  of  our  agriculture. 
In  conclusion,  we  look  upon  the  efforts  of  Democrats  to  alien- 
ate from  their  proper  allegiance  the  working  masses  attached 
to  the  Union  party,  as  a  base,  underhanded  and  unworthy 
trick,  such  in  fact  as  can  only  be  expected  from  a  political 
juggery. 

June  17.— The  Nevada  County  Transcript.— Six  robbers 
went  to  some  Chinese  cabins  at  Oregon  Creek,  near  Emery's 
crossing,  on  the  North  Tuba,  on  Friday  last,  and  after  rob- 
bing the  cabins,  killed  one  Chinaman  and  wounded  another 
fatally.  The  cabins  are  located  on  the  Sierra  side,  and  the 
Chinamen  were  engaged  in  mining.  The  first  cabin  was 
robbed  of  $50  and  burned.  The  robber  then  visited  the  sec- 
ond cabin  and  the  Chinamen  had  fastened  themselves  in, 
and  refused  admission  to  the  robbers.  The  fiends  set  the  house 
on  fire,  and  then  amused  themselves  by  shooting  at  the  China- 
men as  they  ran  from  the  burning  building.  The  robbers 
are  supposed  to  belong  to  the  same  gang  who  killed  several 
Chinamen  in  their  locality  some  months  since. 

22O 


April  15,  1868.— This  morning  a  Chinaman  was  passing 
peaceably  along  Bryant  street  near  Fourth,  when  some  boys, 
came  along,  turned  a  dog  loose,  and  set  him  on  the  Chinaman, 
with  loud  shouts.  The  savage  brute  rushed  at  the  Chinaman, 
who  have  nothing  else  to  defend  himself,  took  his  hat  off 
and  shook  it  in  the  dog's  face.  This  did  no  good,  so  he 
turned  to  flee,  crying  for  help  as  best  he  could,  but  the  brute, 
still  urged  on  by  the  boys,  seized  him  by  one  of  his  legs  and 
pulled  him  down.  By  desperate  efforts  to  strike  and  choke 
the  dog,  he  succeeded  in  keeping  the  dog's  fangs  out  of  his 
throat.  His  leg  was  bitten,  and  his  pants  torn.  He  regained 
his  feet,  but  the  dog,  catching  the  spirit  of  his  brutal  masters, 
kept  his  hold,  and  again  pulled  him  down.  His  hands  were 
badly  bitten,  and  his  clothing  torn  in  many  places.  Four  or 
five  times  the  brute  got  the  Chinaman  down,  and  a  large 
crowd  of  boys  stood  by,  none  of  whom  did  anything  to  aid 
the  poor  fellow,  who  was  so  exhausted  and  frightened  that  he 
could  scarcely  stand.  The  noise  attracted  the  attention  of 
N.  C.  Walton,  the  superintendent  of  the  West  Coast  Fur- 
niture Factory  who  hastened  to  the  rescue,  and  drove  the 
iog  and  its  cowardly  associates  away.  He  obtained  the  name 
of  those  who  were  foremost  in  the  outrage,  and  took  the 
Chinaman  down  to  the  City  Hall  with  him  to  obtain  sum- 
monses. 

Thus  the  list  of  cruel  and  cowardly  assaults  on  these 
people  swells  almost  daily.  Only  last  week,  Mr.  Walton  saw 
one  of  them  pass  along  Main  street,  molesting  no  one,  when 
a  burly  ruffian  took  a  stone  and  hurled  it  at  his  head.  The 
Chinaman  put  his  hand  up  and  the  rock  struck  it,  tearing 
the  skin  and  flesh  from  every  knuckle,  bone  deep.  The  fellow 
who  threw  it  made  good  his  escape.  Every  week,  almost, 
many  similar  cases  are  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  police, 
but  the  evil  increases  to  the  disgrace  of  our  boasted  civiliza- 
itno. 

June  18.— The  Nevada  City  Gazette  of  June  15  says:  "We 
have  before  alluded  to  the  shameful  manner  in  which  Chi- 
nese are  beaten,  robbed  and  otherwise  maltreated  by  rascally 
white  men  in  some  parts  of  our  county.  Now  it  would  seem 
n*  if  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  emboldened  by  the  action  of  the 
legislature  in  refusing  to  remit  Chines  evidence  against  white 
men.  are  comitting  fiendish  depredation  upon  the  harmless 

221 


Mongolians.  On  Thursday  night  of  last  week,  a  party  of 
Chinamen  working  on  Swcetland's  Creek,  was  attacked  by 
three  white  men  and  robbed  of  the  insignificant  sum  of  $30,  to 
obtain  which,  they  killed  one  Chinaman  outright,  two  other 
Chinamen  were  so  severely  wounded,  that  both  will  probably 
die.  It  is  also  reported  that  a  Chinaman  was  caught,  robbed 
of  his  money,  and  hung  on  Wednesday,  10th  instant,  on  Ore- 
gon Creek,  between  Pile's  Flat  and  Camptonville.  Now  it  is 
plain  enough  to  us  that  the  men  who  lay  about  log  grogeries 
in  small  towns,  during  the  day,  are  the  men  who  perpetrate 
those  robberies  during  the  night.  The  citizens  must  form 
themselves  into  committees  of  arrest,  and  if  caught,  we  have 
no  fears,  but  the  robbers  and  murderers  will  be  justly  and 
legally  punished." 

June  18.— Last  evening  some  Chinamen  arrived  here  on 
shipboard  on  Wednesday,  were  brought  ashore  on  the  tug 
Goliah.  Their  baggage  was  landed  with  them  at  the  wharf 
and  loaded  on  express  wagons.  The  crowd  then  started  for  the 
Chinese  quarter,  the  men  running  along  in  the  street  behind 
the  wagons.  Soon  after  leaving  the  wharf,  they  were  attacked 
by  a  crowd  of  men  and  boys,  who  would  disgrace  a  tribe 
of  Apache  Indians.  Stones,  clubs,  potatoes  and  mud  were 
thrown  at  them.  Many  were  knocked  down,  and  when  they 
were  down,  the  white  miscreants  daubed  their  faces  with  mud, 
being  cheered  by  the  crowds  lining  the  sidewalks.  The  shame- 
ful affair  grew  to  the  porportions  of  a  riot,  and  yet  no  effort 
appears  to  have  been  made  to  end  it.  Such  a  brutal  outrage 
ought  to  be  traced  up,  and  its  authors  properly  punished. 

December  6.— From  the  Petaluma  Journal  of  December  4: 
—We  understand  that  the  robbery  of  Chinamen  is  becoming 
a  thins:  of  quite  frequent  occurrence  in  and  around  Big  Val- 
ley region.  Within  two  weeks  past  five  raids  have  been  made 
in  that  section  upon  these  poor  creatures,  many  of  whom  are 
now  employed  in  harvesting  the  potato  crop.  Last  Sunday 
night,  &  camp  of  fourteen,  in  the  employ  of  A.  Walker,  near 
Bloomfield,  was  visited,  and  the  entire  lot  relieved  of  all 
surplus  cash.  The  Chinamen  were  occupying  an  outbuilding 
near  Mr.  Walker;  hearing  a  noise  of  distress,  Mr.  Walker 
arose  and  proceeded  to  the  place,  arriving  just  in  time  to  see 
a  party  of  four  men  mount  their  horses  standing  near  by, 

222 


and  ride  off.    The  Chinamen  stated  that  they  had  been  robbed 
of  $200  in  money. 

July  r>.  — Just  before  sunrise  yesterday,  the  people  living 
in  the  vicinity  of  Fourth  and  Brannan  streets  wore  startled 
by  loud  cries,  and  on  looking  out,  saw  several  full-grown  men 
in  the  act  of  beating  one  unoffending  Chinaman.  The  coward- 
ly brutes  knocked  him  down  and  tin*:;  jumped  on  him  with 
their  heavy  boots  till  he  laid  blooding  like  one  dead.  A  gontle- 
man  hastened  out,  when  the  cowardly  ruffians  scattered  and 
fled.  He  followed  two  of  the  principal  ones  till  he  got  a  pood 
view  of  their  beautiful  and  amiable  countenances,  their  size 
and  the  color  of  their  hair,  so  that  he  could  identify  thorn 
hereafter.  The  Chinaman  lay  for  some  time  on  the  the  sido- 
walk  and  then  worked  his  way  back  to  the  cornor  of  Fifth 
and  Brannan  streets.  One  of  the  murderous  scoundrels  was 
heard  to  remark,  "That's  the  third  Chinaman  we 
have  whipped  this  morning." 

July  26.— This  morning  three  white  men  attacked  a  China- 
man on  First  street  without  any  provocation  and  boat  him  in 
a  terrible  manner.  When  they  loft  he  lay  on  the  ground  in- 
sensible. Some  persons  took  him  into  a  foundry  and  he  was 
soon  restored  to  consciousness.  This  afternoon  a  whito  man 
attacked  a  Chinaman  on  Clay  street  near  LeidosdorfT,  knocked 
him  down  and  beat  him  till  a  young  man,  who  witnessed  the 
affair^  arrested  him.  The  crowd  made  some  demonstrations 
for  the  release  of  the  prisoner,  but  his  captor  had  good  back- 
ing. He  marched  his  prisoner  to  the  station  house  and 
charged  him  with  assault  and  battery. 

August  8.— Between  9  and  10  o'clock,  Saturday  evening, 
as  a  Chinaman  was  carrying  a  sack  of  rice  along  the  sidowalk 
at  Dupont  and  Sutter  streets,  a  boy  named  Frank  IL-vron 
tripped  him  up.  As  he  stumbled  he  lost  one  shoe.  When 
he  stepped  back  to  pick  up  the  shoe,  a  man  named  James 
Brooks  struck  him  one  or  two  blows  on  the  head.  Detective 
Officer  Stone  happened  to  be  within  arm's  length  of  the  as- 
sailants. He  seized  each  one  by  the  hand  and  took  them  to 
the  station  house. 

December  28.— Wednesday  afternoon  a  crowd  of  thirty  to 
forty  boys  attacked  a  Chinaman  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  and 
Shipley  streets,  pursued  and  pelted  him  with  stones.  He  tried 

223 


to  take  refuge  in  a  grocery  store,  but  the  humane  proprietor 
drove  him  out.  The  Chinaman  was  hit  several  times  and 
severely  cut  about  the  head  and  face,  until,  luckily,  he  es- 
caped. No  arrests. 

February  24,  1872.— Last  Sunday  afternoon,  a  Chinese 
peddler  was  walking  along  Polk  street,  making  his  usual 
rounds,  supplying  his  customers  with  vegetables.  He  was  set 
upon  by  a  lot  of  ragamuffins,  from  eight  to  Eighteen  years 
Did.  They  knocked  him  down  and  spilled  his  vegetables  in  the 
gutter.  He  jumped  up  bleeding  from  the  wounds  and  ran 
for  refuge  in  a  neighboring  yard.  The  ruffians  pursued  him 
with  stones  and  sticks  until  he  took  refuge  in  a  house,  where 
the  tormentors  besieged  him  until  very  dark,  when  he  was 
able  to  slip  away  unperceived. 

May  17.— San  Diego,  May  13.— On  Saturday  night,  two 
men,  supposed  to  be  teamsters,  entered  a  Chinese  house  on 
Fourth  street  and  cut  the  throat  of  a  Chinawoman.  Three 
wounds  were  inflicted,  and  one  of  them  severed  the  wind- 
pipe. The  woman,  when  found  by  her  countrymen,  was 
cared  for,  but  her  recovery  is  considered  doubtful.  The  men 
escaped  and  no  clue  has  been  obtained  as  to  who  they  are, 
or  where  they  have  gone. 

July  16.— A  Chinaman  was  shot  in  the  streets  of  Santa 
Barbara  recently  and  severely  injured.  The  Times  remarks 
that  the  persecutions  of  these  inoffensive  people  is  cowardly 
in  the  extreme.  No  arrests  were  made  for  the  act. 

August  8.— Complaint  is  made  by  the  Chinese  that  they  are 
robbed,  insulted  and  even  murdered,  with  comparative  im- 
punity by  the  hoodlums  who  curse  our  city;  not  one  out- 
rage in  a  hundred  being  followed  by  the  arrest  and  punish- 
ment of  the  Derpetrator.  Among  the  dodges  resorted  to 
frequently  of  late,  is  to  snatch  gold  and  silver  pins,  and  other 
r>rnaments  for  the  hair,  ears,  wrists  or  anklets  of  the  China- 
women, from  the  wearers  on  the  streets,  and  trust  to  their 
ability  at  running,  for  escaping  with  their  booty. 

This  morninsr,  about  nine  o'clock  an  outrageous  case  of 
this  kind  occurred  on  Washington  between  Dupont  and 
Stockton,  nearly  opposite  the  Baptist  Church,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  hundreds  of  people.  A  boy  snatched  a  long  gold 
pin  or  skewer  from  the  hair  of  a  Chinawoman  and  started  to 

224 


run  up  the  street.  Several  Chinamen  and  others  pursued  him. 
and  just  as  a  Chinaman  was  seizing  him,  he  turned  on  his 
pursuer,  and  drawing  Ja  double-edged  dirk  knife,  struck  with 
his  whole  strength  at  his  breast.  The  blow  missed  his  in- 
tended victim,  and  the  knife  was  wrenched  from  his  hand, 
but  with  the  pin  still  in  his  possession,  he  dived  into  a  base- 
ment, ran  through  the  back  door  into  an  alley,  and  made  good 
his  escape.  A  number  of  policemen  were  in  the  ground  very 
quickly,  attracted  by  the  outcry  raised  by  the  Chinamen,  but 
too  late  to  capture  the  juvenile  candidate  for  State's  prison 
»r  the  gallows. 

August  14.— A  Chinaman  today  was  walking  along  Stock- 
ton street,  when  a  crowd  of  hoodlums  assailed  him,  throwing 
stones  at  him.  and  one  of  the  gang  stole  his  hat  and  escaped. 
The  Chinaman  singled  out  one  of  the  boys,  gave  chase,  secured 
that  boy's  hat  and  escaped. 

Los  Angeles,  October  24,  1871.— Officer  Bilderain  attempted 
to  arrest  a  Chinaman  for  shootin?  another,  last  night,  and  was 
resisted.  The  officer  called  R.  Thompson  to  assist  him,  when 
the  Chinamen  commenced  firing  on  both  sides  of  the  street. 
Thompson  was  shot  through  the  breast,  and  Bilderain  through 
the  shoulder.  The  Chinaman  then  jumped  from  him  and 
escaped.  A  Spanish  boy  was  shot  through  the  leg.  Thomp- 
son, who  is  dead,  was  a  quiet,  inoffensive  citizen.  The  ex- 
citement is  intense,  and  the  citizens  are  arising.  The  Chinese 
quarter  is  now  in  a  state  of  siege.  A  hundred  white  men  are 
armed  with  Henry  rifles.  One  Chinaman  was  just  captured 
and  hung  by  the  citizens.  Firing  at  intervals,  and  regular 
Volleys  are  heard,  firing  into  Chinese  houses  at  random,  and 
from  housetops  in  common.  Two  Chinamen  are  killed.  The 
Sheriff  and  civil  authorities  have  given  up  trying  to  restrain 
the  mob.  The  Chinese  are  well  armed  and  more  blood  will 
probably  flow.  Another  Chinaman  was  hung  at  two  minutes 
past  eight,  and  a  third  is  just  being  taken  down  by  the  crowd 
to  be  hung.  Eight  Chinamen  have  been  hung  and  nine  more 
are  to  be  hung  as  soon  as  ropes  can  be  found.  In  all,  fifteen 
Chinamen  have  been  hung.  The  authorities  have  at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  preventing  further  violence.  Another  Chinaman 
was  raptured  and  put  in  jail.  The  crowd  is  dispersing. 

June  3.— A  citizen  described  at  some  length,  and  in  indig- 


nant  terms,  a  scene  which  he  interrupted  on  Sunday  after- 
noon near  the  corner  of  Taylor  and  Francisco  streets.  A  large 
crowd  of  boys  and  grown  persons  were  engaged  playing  ball 
in  a  vacant  lot,  when  one  of  the  number  gave  notice  that 
two  Chinamen  were  approaching.  Immediately  the  whole 
number  procured  stones  and  lay  in  ambush  under  an  em- 
embankment  near  the  sidewalk.  When  the  Chinamen  ap- 
proached the  place  they  were  immediately  and  suddenly  at- 
tacked with  a  shower  of  stones,  repeatedly  struck  with  much 
violence,  and  it  was  wholly  remarkable  that  they  escaped  seri- 
ous injuries  by  running.  A  strengthening  of  police  protec- 
tion in  the  neighborhood  of  North  Beach,  as  well  as  other 
points  of  the  city,  seems  urgently  demanded. 

October  14.— On  Sunday  afternoon,  a  peaceful  Chinaman 
was  passing  along  Brannan  street  near  Ninth.  He  was  stoned 
by  a  party  of  young  ruffians.  The  Chinaman  turned  to  re- 
rent  the  outrage  when  a  hoodlum  struck  him  several  times  in 
the  face,  compelling  a  hasty  retreat.  During  this  time,  about 
twenty  white  men  saw  the  occurrence,  but  no  officer  was  to 
be  sci'M. 

November  4.— The  Chinese  of  Sacramento  have  for  several 
days  past  been  occupied  in  their  Joss  House,  being  holidays. 
On  Sunday  evening,  some  white  rascals  visited  the  Joss  House, 
and  after  various  insulting  performances,  one  of  them  set  fire 
to  the  immense  paper  image.  It  was  fortunately  discovered 
in  time,  to  prevent  the  entire  destruction  of  the  Joss  House 
and  the  loss  of  a  great  many  lives.  Later  in  the  evening, 
some  wretch  standing  in  the  crowd,  cut  off  a  Chinaman's 
queue  close  to  his  head.  The  Chinese  were  greatly  exasperated 
and  will  exclude  all  visitors  from  their  temple. 

November  24.— Yesterday  afternoon,  as  the  congregation  of 
the  Tabernacle  Presbyterian  Church  were  separating  after 
morning  service,  a  brutal  attack  was  made  upon  a  Chinaman, 
who  was  quietly  passing  the  corner  of  Market  and  Sixth 
streets,  by  three  vicious  young  men.  Members  of  the  congre- 
gation interfered,  and  after  considerable  discussion,  the  Ce- 
lestial escaped.  No  arrest  was  made. 

April  30.— The  Gold  Hill  News  says:— April  28th,  about 
thirty  Chinamen  were  put  to  work  yesterday  on  the  New 
Caledonia,  near  the  Baltimore  mine.  This  morning  at  seven 

226 


3 'clock,  about  sixty  white  men  ordered  them  to  leave.  Some 
of  the  Chinamen,  not  understanding  the  order,  were  a  little 
tardy  about  starting  until  they  saw  flying  rocks  coming  at 
them.  They  then  took  to  flight  and  were  pursued  about  a 
half  mile  by  the  whites.  Not  one  injured.  II.  M.  Yerington, 
general  manager  of  the  Virginia  and  Truckee  railroad,  was 
telegraphed  to  at  Carson;  he  arrived  here  on  the  10  o'clock 
train.  It  will  be  a  difficult  matter  to  induce  the  Chinamen 
to  go  to  work  in  the  same  place  again. 

May  10.— The  San  Bernardino  Guardian  of  May  6,  says:— 
A  most  cruel  and  cowardly  attempt  to  injure  a  houseful  of 
sleeping  Chinamen  was  made  in  this  camp  on  the  night  of 
the  28th  of  April.  These  Chinamen  worked  for  the  Gold 
Mountain  Mining  Company  and  the  company  has  furnished 
them  with  a  house  in.  which  to  cook  and  sleep.  Several  threats 
were  made  lately  against  the  Chinamen.  On  the  evening 
mentioned,  some  white  men  put  under  the  above-mentioned 
house  some  giant  powder  and  attached  a  fuse  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  feet  and  with  a  cigar  fired  the  fuse.  The  explosion 
shook  the  windows  of  the  buildings  for  over  500  yards  around. 
The  floor  was  torn  open,  all  upside  down;  the  bunks  were 
thrown  into  a  shapeless  mass  of  splinters.  One  Chinaman 
was  thrown  out  of  the  door  some  six  feet  from  the  building. 
Mr.  Gilson,  the  superintendent,  offered  a  reward  of  $250  for 
the  apprehension  and  conviction  of  the  guilty  parties. 

September  21.— Stockton  Herald  says  that  on  Tuesday 
evening  last,  a  party  of  tramps  stopped  at  the  cabin  of  a 
couple  of  Chinese  and  demanded  whatever  money  they  had, 
demanding  the  same  at  the  point  of  a  shotgun;  the  Chinese 
defended  their  treasure,  but  were  at  the  last  compelled  to  sur- 
render; they  say  they  were  compelled  to  pass  over  $340.  After 
succeeding  in  obtaining  the  money,  the  tramps  tied  the  Celes- 
tials to  a  tree  outside  of  their  camp  and  immediately  left; 
the  heathens  succeeded,  after  many  hours,  in  releasing  them- 
selves. 

June  27,  1876.— The  Truckee  Republican  has  this  to  say 
about  the  recent  murder  of  Chinamen  there:  Truckee  ought 
not  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  acts  of  a  few  rogues  who  are 
a  disgrace  to  the  community.  The  matter  has  been  thoroughly 
sifted  and  the  real  criminals  are  likely  to  be  speedily  ap- 

227 


prehended.  Our  citizens,  one  and  all,  stand  ready  to  liberally 
reward  the  detectives  who  are  working  up  the  case.  There 
is  no  sympathy  for  the  scoundrels,  and  there  would  be  willing 
hands  ready  to  string  up  the  murderers,  if  their  guilt  could 
be  proven. 

September  27,  1876.— Nevada,  Cal.,  September  27.— The 
District  Court  met  at  10  A.  M.,  Judge  Reardon  presiding. 
Twenty-five  witnesses  brought  from  Truckee  by  Sheriff 
Clarke  on  attachment,  were  questioned  as  to  the  cause  of 
their  absence  and  the  Court  took  the  cases  under  advisement 
District  Atorney  E.  H.  Gailord  made  the  opening  speech  for 
the  people.  He  said  that  on  the  17th  of  June,  two  sets  of 
Chinamen  lived  at  Trout  Creek,  some  three  miles  from 
Truckee,  who  were  engaged  in  cutting  wood.  Their  cabins 
were  alone  on  the  banks  of  the  creek.  Two  lived  in  one  cabin 
and  four  in  another.  On  the  night  of  the  18th  of  June,  six 
or  seven  men,  armed  with  guns  and  pistols,  set  fire  to  the 
first  cabin,  and  while  it  was  burning,  shot  at  the  Chinamen 
that  came  out.  Proceeding  down  to  the  second  cabin,  the 
men  put  kerosene  on  the  building,  applied  a  torch  and  put  it 
in  a  blaze.  As  soon  as  the  fire  showed  through  the  cracks, 
ane  Chinaman  ran  out  and  commenced  putting  out  the  fire 
by  the  light  of  lamps.  The  ambush  white  men  fired  several 
shots,  two  pierced  the  body  of  the  Chinaman,  from  the  effects 
of  which  he  died.  The  other  Chinamen  remained  in  the 
cabin  until  the  intense  heat  drove  them  out.  There  is  a  secret 
order  in  Truckee  caled  the  Caucasian  League.  At  a  secret 
meeting  held  by  them,  a  call  was  made  for  volunteers  to  oust 
the  parties  who  employ  Chinamen,  and  notify  Chinamen  to 
leave,  and  perform  such  other  acts  as,  in  their  discretion,  the 
enterprise  may  suggest  or  is  needed.  Two  committees  were 
appointed,  and  after  deliberation,  a  raid  was  planned  on  the 
Chinamen  on  Trout  Creek.  The  parties  were  divided  in  sets. 
The  volunteers  divided  into  two  parties,  one  company  of  six 
and  another  three.  They  separated  to  gather  arms  and  ammu- 
nition and  then  met  at  the  house  of  Wilson  about  11  o'clock. 
All-  met,  four  going  immediately  from  the  lodge,  and  three 
subsequently  came.  One  of  these  was  named  Reed;  the  others 
were  Setchell  and  McCullough:  the  other  four  were  already 
prepared  for  the  enterprise.  The  testimony  of  McCullough, 
one  of  the  parties,  who  turned  state's  evidence,  was  taken. 

228 


He  gave  the  above  statement,  directly  implicating  all  the  de- 
fendants in  the  crime.  McCullough,  himself,  stated  that  he 
had  served  in  San  Quentin,  and  in  various  county  jails  in 
Nevada. 

We  regret  to  chronicle  the  outrages  and  cowardly  assaults 
made  upon  the  unoffending  Chinamen  daily  in  our  public 
streets,  the  publication  of  which  places  our  municipal  govern- 
ment and  people  in  no  enviable  light,  either  at  home  or  abroad. 
We  ask,  in  the  name  of  justice,  why  it  is  that  those  people  are 
beaten  and  maltreated  at  high  noon  on  our  streets,  and  "no 
arrests"  invariably  recorded?  On  New  Year's  day  these 
people  were  assaulted  and  beaten  in  different  localities  on  the 
crowded  streets  in  this  Christian  city,  and  we  have  not  heard 
of  an  arrest.  We  give  a  sample:  A  Chinese  boy,  not  over 
fourteen  years  of  age,  was  attacked  by  a  gang  of  street  Arabs 
on  Townsend  street  near  Third  and  pelted  with  broken  brick, 
on  striking  him  in  the  mouth  and  cutting  him  terribly.  He 
was  knocked  down  and  beaten  in  a  most  cruel  manner.  To 
add  to  the  outrage,  a  crowd  of  men  gathered  and  urged  on  the 
hoodlums.  A  well-known  citizen,  passing  in  a  carriage, 
stopped  and  went  to  the  assistance  of  the  Chinaman,  when 
he  was  ordered  to  stand  back  and  not  interfere.  '"No  ar- 
rests." On  Third  street,  near  Market,  a  Chinaman  was  set 
upon  by  drunken  hoodlums  and  knocked  down  and  beaten, 
but  got  away  from  them  and  took  refuge  in  a  saloon,  but 
was  ejected  by  the  proprietor.  A  large  crowd  collected,  and 
when  the  Chinaman  came  out  he  concluded  to  show  fight, 
and  went  for  one  of  his  assailants,  armed  with  a  door  nig, 
which  he  laid  over  the  scoundrel's  shoulders  until  he  beat 
a  retreat.  "No  arrests."  On  Kearny  near  Sacramento 
street,  one  of  the  large  plate  glass  windows  of  Ching  Lee's 
store  was  demolished  by  a  rock  weighing  ten  pounds,  which 
went  crashing  through  the  beautiful  Chinaware  exhibited  in 
the  window.  "No  arrests."  Another  Chinaman  was  knocked 
down  and  beaten  on  Pacific  street,  near  Montgomery  street 
at  12  M.  "No  arrests."— Alta,  January  3,  1876. 

The  foregoing  outrages  were  perpetrated  before  the  close 
of  1876.  Here  follows  some  outrages  that  were  perpetrated 
on  a  larger  scale,  and  there  is  a  good  reason  to  believe  that 
most  of  these  excesses  were  the  direct  result  of  the  teachings 

229 


of  demagogues  who  abounded  on  this  coast  since  the  advent 
of  Dennis  Kcarny. 

Daily  Alia  California,  March  16,  1877. 

CHICO,  March  15.— This  morning  we  visited  the  scene  of 
an  awful  tragedy  which  was  reported  to  have  taken  place  at 
Chris  Lemm's  ranch,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  town, 
last  evening  at  9:30  o'clock.  Six  Chinese  were  employed  in 
grubbing  and  clearing  a  piece  of  land  adjoining  this  field, 
by  contract,  and  were  congratulating  themselves  that  two  or 
three  days  more  would  finish  their  contract  and  they  would 
get  their  pay.  Mr.  Lemm  informs  us  that  they  were  diligent, 
hard  working  Chinamen,  and  had  made  a  good  job  of  the 
work  they  had  on  hand.  There  had  been  no  quarreling  and 
utmost  harmony  prevailing  and  no  one  entertained  any  idea 
that  enemies  were  after  them.  They  had  built  a  small  cabin 
for  temporary  use,  of  plank,  and  in  that  they  lived. 

The  six  Chinese  were  all  in  the  cabin  in  the  evening,  some 
lying  down  while  others  were  sitting  around.  A  lighted 
candle  was  upon  the  small  table,  and  it  is  thought  that  this 
aided  the  murderers  in  their  work  of  assassination. 

On  arriving  on  the  ground  we  went  to  the  cabin  and  the 
ghastly  sight  which  presented  itself  to  our  gaze  was  most  ap- 
palling. On  the  ground  at  the  entrance  there  lay  a  stalwart 
Chinaman  on  his  face  with  a  bullet  wound  in  his  face  and 
blood  and  brains  forming  a  pool  around  him.  The  second 
lay  about  a  foot  from  him  in  nearly  the  same  condition,  while 
a  third  lay  partially  over  the  second,  also  wounded  in  the 
head.  The  fourth  was  lying  in  an  opposite  direction  to  the 
other  three,  with  his  face  partially  on  the  matting  near  the 
bed,  with  a  terrible  wound  in  his  face,  which  showed  that 
his  murderer  had  been  clo^e  to  him.  He  was  still  alive 
though  unconscious,  and  died  during  the  time  the  inquest 
was  being  held.  The  fifth  Chinamen  was  wounded  in  the 
breast,  but  managed  to  escape  to  the  other  side  of  the  slough 
where  we  found  him  in  a  dying  condition.  He  was  brought 
to  town  but  there  is  little  chance  for  his  recovery. 

The  sixth  Chinaman  was  wounded  in  the  arm  by  a  small 
man  or  a  boy.  It  is  only  a  flesh  wound:  he  says  that  at  the 
time  they  aimed  at  him,  he  threw  up  his  left  arm  and  fell 

230 


back  and  lay  perfectly  still.  Thinking  they  had  completed 
their  work  of  slaughter,  kerosene  was  poured  over  the  place 
and  a  match  applied  in  the  hope  of  obliterating  their  bloody 
record.  After  setting  the  fire,  they  hastily  made  their  escape, 
but  the  wounded  man,  who  had  laid  perfectly  still,  arose 
after  their  departure  and  put  out  the  flames.  He  made  his 
way  to  town  but  nothing  was  done  till  morning. 

It  appears  that  the  assassins  were  six  in  number  and  as  the 
Chinamen  described  them  there  were  five  "Melican"  men 
and  one  boy  or  "little  man."  They  came  right  up  to  the 
cabin  door  and  without  any  warning  blazed  away,  each  one 
3f  them  picking  out  his  victim  which  could  be  easily  done 
as  the  candle  on  the  inside  showed  their  positions. 

There  is  no  clue  to  the  perpetrators  of  this  terrible  out- 
rage and  the  verdict  of  Coroner  Hallet's  jury  is  in  the 
common  phraseology  that  the  Chinamen  "came  to  their  death 
by  pistol  phot  wounds  inflicted  by  six  white  men,  to  the  jury 
unknown,"  and  nothing  more. 

No  active  steps  have  been  taken  to  ferret  out  the  crimes 
which  have  been  committed  in  and  around  Chico  during  the 
last  three  weeks,  and  murder  and  bloodshed,  incendiarism 
and  rapine  are  allowed  to  run  rampant. 

CHICO,  March  17.— This  morning  a  terrible  feverish  ex- 
citement prevailed  all  through  town  when  it  became  known 
that  a  number  of  citizens  had  received  threatening  notices, 
These  notices  were  all  mailed  last  night  after  8  o'clock,  and 
read:  "Get  rid  of  your  Chinese  help  within  15  days,  or 
suffer  the  consequences. 

(Signed)  Committee." 

The  following,  with  reference  to  the  reward  offered  by 
Messrs.  White  &  Noonan  for  the  arrest  of  those  attempting 
to  burn  Chinatown,  will  be  found  interesting.  Mr.  White 
also  received  a  similiar  one. 

"Mr.  J.  C.  Noonan.  Sir:  We  see  that  you  have  offered  a" 
reward  of  $500  for  the  arrest  of  anybody  trying  to  burn 
either  of  the  Chinatowns  in  Chico.  Now  look  here,  Mr. 
Drugs,  you  had  better  let  that  job  out  for  if  you  cause  the 
arrest  of  anybody  for  that  or  for  molesting  Chinamen  in 
any  manner,  you  will  have  six  inches  of  cold  steel  or  a  half 

231 


ounce  of  lead  introduced  into  your  body,  or  to  speak  phiiuly. 
you  will  be  sent  to  hell  inside  of  24  hours.  You  have  carried 
this  thing  far  enough  and  we  are  getting  tired  of  it,  so  damn 
your  China  heart,  if  you  don't  keep  your  infernal  mouth 
shut,  we  will  silence  it  forever,  so  take  care  and  look  out 
for  the 

Ku  KLUX  KLAN.  " 

Alia  California,  Mar«h  7,  1877. 

Hoodlums  on  Jessie  street  last  nisht  saw  »  Chinaman 
passing  along  Fourth  street  near  Jessie,  he  was  struck  by 
one  of  the  hoodlums  who  infest  that  neighborhood,  cutting 
a  deep  gash  over  the  eye.  A  Police  Officer  who  arrived  a 
few  minutes  later,  could  gain  no  information  as  to  who  did 
the  act.  One  person  who  was  disposed  to  tell,  was  told  by 
the  crowd  to  shut  up  his  mouth  or  he  would  get  the  same. 

Alia  California,  May  23,  1877. 

A  Chinaman  was  knocked  down  and  cruelly  beaten  by 
two  ruffians  on  Dupont  street,  near  the  Turkish  Baths,  at 
half  past  ten  yesterday  morning.  John  Ellis  »sent  a  Police- 
man promptly  to  the  spot  but  no  information  could  be  ob- 
tained as  to  the  identity  of  the  parties  who  committed  the 
outrage. 

Alt  a  California,  June  14,  1877. 

A  stabbing  affair  came  off  at  the  southwest  corner  of 
Kearny  and  Commercial  streets  early  yesterday  evening, 
Two  Chinamen  were  crossing  the  sidewalk  to  go  up  the  hill 
when  one  of  three  hoodlums  drew  a  dagger,  stabbed  one  of 
the  Chinamen  in  the  neck. 

Examiner,  July  24,  1877. 

The  hoodlum  element,  of  which  there  is  in  this  city  so 
large  a  share,  indulged  in  a  thorough  saturnalia  last-  night. 
They  were  out  in  force  and  took  advantage  of  sundry  con- 
tingencies to  give  the  public  a  sample  of  what  they  would 
do  if  undeterred  by  the  fear  of  punishment.  On  Market 
street,  in  the  open  space  in  front  of  the  New  City  Hall,  a 
very  large  meeting  of  workingmen  was  held  to  consider  the 
situation  relative  to  the  railroad  strikes  in  the  East.  The 

232 


conduct  of  both  the  assemblage  and  speakers  was  peaceable 
and  orderly,  and  while  the  latter  so  far  as  we  heard,  did 
not  give  utterance  to  any  incendiary  exortations,  in  the  out- 
skirts of  the  crowd,  however,  hovered  a  crowd  of  hoodlums, 
among  whom  flourished  in  full  luxuriance  the  evil  feelings 
and  villianous  traits  of  that  undesirable  class  of  the  city's 
population.  They  lounged  around  in  great  force  and  not 
finding  the  society  of  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
mass  meeting  or  sentiments  uttered  by  the  speakers,  con- 
genial to  their  desires,  they  started  off  for  a  little  diversion 
on  their  own  hook.  As  they  were  out  in  such  unusual  num- 
bers they  felt  more  than  usually  courageous  and  spiteful, 
and  concluded  that  they  would  select  as  their  victims,  the 
proprietors  of  the  Chinese  wash-house  in  the  neighborhood. 
Their  first  point  of  attack  was  a  Chinese  wash-house  on  the 
south  side  of  Tyler  street  above  Leavenworth,  which  they 
bombarded  with  bricks  and  rocks,  smashing  the  doors  and 
windows.  Officer  Blakslee  ran  up  and  placed  himself  in 
front  of  the  house  and  ordered  the  crowd  to  disperse,  at 
the  same  time  drawing  his  revolver  and  threatening  to  use 
it  if  any  further  demonstration  was  made.  The  crowd  dis- 
persed. 

From  this  place  they  went  to  a  Chinese  wash-house  on 
Geary  street  above  Leavenworth.  The  occupants  of  this  place 
had  been  warned  of  the  approach  of  the  crowd  and  they 
deserted  the  premises.  The  mob  pelted  this  house,  a  one 
story  frame,  with  rocks  and  brickbats.  One  of  these  struck 
a  lighted  kerosene  lamp  and  upset  it  and  the  oil  igniting  some 
clothes  on  an  ironing-table  and  in  a  moment  the  whole  build- 
ing was  in  a  blaze.  The  fire  communicated  to  a  two  story 
frame  house  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Geary  and  Leaven- 
worth streets.  An  alarm  was  turned  in  from  Station  45  and 
the  firemen  responded  promptly.  The  mob  continued  its 
demolition,  going  up  one  street  and  down  another,  smashing 
in  every  wash-house  that  was  in  their  course.  In  the  district 
bounded  by  Market,  Larkin,  Post  and  Mason  streets,  about 
fifteen  washhouses  were  gutted.  The  houses  were  all  deserted 
and  not  a  Chinaman  was  injured  in  any  of  these  places.  The 
mob  after  leaving  Post  street,  turned  into  Fleet  street  and 

233 


then  walked  up  to  Dupont,and  then  to  Pine,  smashing  any 
wash-house  on  the  way.  At  Pine  street  the  crowd  was  met 
by  a  squad  of  police  under  Captain  Douglass.  The  mob  at- 
tempted to  force  through  the  police  lines,  but  the  officers, 
by  the  use  of  their  clubs,  gave  them  to  understand  they 
eould  not  pass.  They  retired  in  disorder  but  soon  rallied 
again  and  went  up  Bush  street  to  Stockton,  thence  along  that 
street  to  Washington,  where  they  demolished  a  wash-house 
situated  just  above  Stockton  and  they  broke  seven  lights  of 
glass  in  the  Chinese  Mission  in  charge  of  Dr.  Gibson.  The 
mob  continued  on  its  course  northward  and  had  several  en- 
counters with  the  police.  One  at  the  corner  of  Vallejo  and 
Stockton,  and  again  at  the  North  Beach  Beer  Gardens,  and 
again  at  the  corner  of  Mason  and  Broadway.  A  portion  of 
the  mob  went  to  the  corner  of  Pacific  and  Taylor  and  were 
about  to  smash  in  another  wash-house  when  officer  Sneider, 
who  was  on  horseback,  rode  up  and  drove  the  crowd  down  the 
hill.  By  11  o'clock  the  hoodlum  mob  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  useless  to  buck  against  the  police  and  gave  up  the 
fight.  The  loss  by  the  fire,  caused  by  the  incendiary  torch, 
is  estimated  at  about  $3000  while  the  damage  to  the  wash- 
houses  and  other  places  will  not  fall  short  of  six  or  seven 
thousand.  This  would  make  an  aggregate  of  about  $10,000. 

A  Chinaman  chased  by  the  mob  sought  refuge  in  a  grocery 
store  on  the  corner  of  Geary  and  Leavenworth  streets.  The 
mob  smashed  the  grocery  windows  and  marched  into  the  store 
and  stole  a  lot  of  groceries. 

Officer  Page,  while  arresting  a  young  hoodlum  for  battery 
on  a  Chinaman,  was  roughly  handled  and  had  his  revolver 
stolen. 

Examiner,  July  25,  1877. 

An  uneasy  feeling  was  apparent  yesterday  among  all  classes 
respecting  a  possible  repetition  of  the  lawlessness  exhibited 
by  the  hoodlum  element  on  Monday  evening. 

About  nine  o'clock  a  gang  of  hoodlums  assembled  on 
Natoma  street  near  Fifth  and  commenced  to  stone  a  Chinese 
wash-house.  The  hoodlums  then  went  over  to  Fifth  street, 
opposite  the  Mint,  where  their  number  was  augmented  to 
nearly  1000.  A  squad  of  eight  policemen  came  up  and  were 

234 


received  with  hooting  and  yelling.  They  attempted  to  dis- 
perse the  crowd  but  were  unable  to.  In  a  few  minutes  after- 
wards another  squad  came  to  their  assistance  and  began  using 
their  clubs  with  good  effect.  The  crowd  scattered  in  every 
direction,  about  fifty  started  out  Mission  and  at  Eighth  they 
were  reinforced  by  about  200  more.  Going  up  Mission  street 
they  broke  into  four  Chinese  wash-houses,  using  a  heavy 
scantling  for  a  battering  ram,  between  Eighth  and  Twelfth 
streets,  the  Chinese  all  escaping.  Turning  south  on  Twelfth 
street  the  new  point  of  attack  was  on  the  cast  side  of  Twelfth 
just  beyond  Howard.  After  stoning  the  house  and  breaking 
all  the  windows,  they  proceeded  to  set  fire  to  it.  After 
plundering  the  house  of  its  contents  they  proceeded  to 
demolish  the  laundry  on  the  corner  of  Twelfth  and  Bryant, 
but  a  mounted  officer,  who  had  seen  them  and  gone  to  the 
sub-station  for  assistance,  came  up  with  a  small  squad,  under 
Sergeant  Schopp,  before  they  had  succeeded  in  setting  fire 
to  the  building.  Upon  the  appearance  of  the  officers,  the  mob 
which  by  this  time  numbered  several  hundred,  scattered  in 
every  direction. 

At  nine  o'clock  a  report  came  into  the  Chief's  office  that 
the  hoodlums  were  gathering  on  Twelfth  street  and  wero  to 
attack  some  Chinese  match  factories  there.  A  squad  of  police 
under  Captain  Douglass  was  sent  out  immediately,  and  Cap- 
tain Lees  and  Mayor  Bryant  went  out  in  a  hack.  They  found 
everything  quiet  at  the  woolen  mills  and  Lees  came  down  to 
Twelfth  street  where  about  200  of  the  scoundrels  had  sacked 
one  of  the  match  factories.  The  thieves  had  broken  into  the 
house  and  stolen  $340  out  of  a  trunk.  The  owner  was  badly 
beaten.  Lees  ordered  Sergeant  Shields  to  charge  upon  the 
mob  and  they  dispersed  in  quick  order. 

Shortly  before  11  o'clock  a  crowd  of  about  20  hoodlums 
sacked  and  burned  the  wash-house  on  the  corner  of  Devisa- 
dero  and  Greenwich  streets.  Two  Chinamen  who  were  visit- 
ing the  house  started  to  go  home.  When  outside  they  saw 
the  gang  and  rushed  back  and  gave  the  alarm.  The  whole  of 
the  Chinamen,  nine  in  number,  then  rushed  for  the  back  door 
so  as  to  escape  that  way.  They  were  confronted  by  two  men 
who  held  pistols  in  their  hands  and  had  a  can  of  coal  oil  with 
them.  The  Chinamen  then  rushed  for  the  front  door  and 

235 


when  they  put  in  an  appearance  the  mob  fired  about  a  dozen 
shots.  The  Chinamen  escaped  and  hid  in  the  surrounding 
bushes.  One  of  them  rushed  back  into  the  house  and  sought 
refuge  in  the  cellar.  The  mob  rushed  in  and  sacked  the  place, 
taking  $140  in  gold  from  a  trunk.  They  then  set  fire  to  the 
building,  and  it  was  consumed  before  the  department  could 
get  to  work,  owing  to  its  isolated  position. 

After  the  flames  had  been  subdued,  an  exploration  of  the 
premises  discovered  the  body  of  the  Chinaman  burned  to  a 
crisp,  but  there  is  still  another  one  missing,  but  up  to  the 
present  time  the  remains  have  not  been  found.  A  man  was 
arrested  this  morning  and  charged  with  complicity  in  the 
crime. 

The  following  account  is  from  an  extract  of  the  Carson 
Appeal  of  December  28,  1878. 

On  the  night  of  Wednesday  a  number  of  white  men  in 
mask,  entered  the  cabin  occupied  by  a  couple  of  Chinamen, 
near  Franktown.  The  Chinese  were  employed  on  rented 
ground,  raising  vegetables,  etc..  and  it  was  known  generally 
that  they  had  a  large  sum  secluded  among  their  effects  be- 
cause they  were  industrious  and  frugal.  The  white  men 
entered  the  cabin  in  the  evening,  just  immediately  before  the 
evening  meal.  The  Chinese  were  bound  and  gagged  and 
tortured  to  compel  them  to  show  where  they  keep  their  money, 
but  the  Chinese  showed  no  inclination  to  do  so,  the  white 
men  were  very  much  exasperated  and  one  of  them  cut  off 
all  the  ears  of  the  Chinese  and  they  began  to  search  every 
place,  and  finally,  in  one  of  the  mattresses,  they  found  a  little 
bag  containing  the  sum  of  $1200,  in  gold  and  silver.  While 
they  were  so  doing  another  Chinese  came  to  see  their  friends 
and  was  likewise  treated.  The  white  robbers  left  them  in 
this  condition  and  the  next  morning  some  one  came  to  see 
them  and  they  were  released  and  relieved  of  their  agony  and 
perilous  situation.  Nothing  was  done,  because  the  Chinese 
could  not  give  any  description  of  the  robbers. 

Bulletin,  January  29,  1878. 

Yesterday  afternoon  some  boys  met  some  Chinese  on  the 
i-oaJ,  just  outside  of  the  City  of  Sacramento,  and  begged 
tobacco  of  them,  but  the  Chinese  had  none,  whereupon  the 

236 


boys  set  a  dog  on  them  and  a  fight  ensued,  the  boys  beating 
the  Chinese  with  such  bits  as  the  roadway  afforded,  and  one 
boy  threw  a  potato  at  an  old  Chinese.  He  staggered  and 
fell  dead.  The  boys  were  seven  in  number,  five  of  them  have 
been  arrested.  The  youngest  10  years  old  and  the  eldest  15. 

AUBURN,   Sept.   2nd,   1877. 

All  Chinatown  was  burned.  The  fire  must  have  been  in- 
cendiary, and  after  the  fire  a  meeting  was  held  by  the  whites 
to  take  measures  to  prevent  the  rebuilding  of  Chinatown. 

GRASS  VALLEY,  Sept.  18,  1877. 

Chinatown  was  totally  burned  on  Monday  night,  at  11 
o'clock.  Loss  $20,000,  no  insurance.  The  Chinese  saved  but 
very  little  and  are  dependant  upon  charity  for  food.  Thirty 
houses  were  burned  in  all.  The  fire  was  of  incendiary  origin. 

ROCKLIN,  Sept.  17,  1877. 

A  party  of  citizens,  about  100  in  number,  started  with  the 
intention  of  driving  the  Chinese  out  of  Township  No.  9. 
They  marched  up  Secret  Ravine  but  all  the  Chinese  took 
alarm  and  departed  beforehand. 

PENRYN,  Sept.  17,  1877. 

Meetings  were  held  to  drive  the  Chinese  from  town. 
ROSEVILLE,  Oregon,  Sept.  17,  1877. 

The  citizens  of  this  town  met  and  notified  the  Chinese 
this  morning  to  leave  town  before  10  a.  m.  The  Chinese  were 
terribly  frightened  and  there  will  not  be  one  left  after  that 
time. 

CORTLAND,  Cal.,  Oct.  23,  1877. 

Another  case  of  incendiarism  was  perpetrated  at  Walnut 
Grove  this  morning.  At  four  o'clock  the  Chinese  store  of 
Ham  Wa  Chong  was  set  on  fire  in  two  places  and  totally 
destroyed.  Loss  $2000.  An  attempt  to  burn  the  same  place 
was  made  some  weeks  since  and  it  is  supposed  to  have  been 
made  by  the  same  parties.  No  arrest  was  made.  Suspicion 
rests  upon  parties  who  have  made  threats  to  destroy  property 
owned  by  people  employing  Chinese. 

It  was  agreed  to  meet  tomorrow  morning  and  proceed  up 
Secret  Ravine  and  drive  out  the  Chinese  residents  who  had 
returned  since  the  last  expulsion. 

237 


CHEYENNE,  Sept.  2,  1885.— The  Leader  has  the  following 
special : 

The  largest  coal  mines  in  the  entire  Union  Pacific  system 
are  at  Rock  Springs,  250  miles  west  of  Cheyenne.  The  com- 
pany recently  imported  a  large  number  of  Chinese  to  take 
the  place  of  white  men.  This  afternoon  the  entire  force  of 
white  miners,  about  150  strong,  organized  and  armed  with 
shotguns  and  marched  to  Chinatown.  After  firing  a  volley 
into  the  air,  they  reloaded  and  ordered  the  Chinamen  to  leave. 
The  order  was  obeyed  at  once,  the  Chinamen  fleeing  to  the 
hills  like  a  drove  of  sheep,  closely  pursued  by  the  miners, 
who  fired  several  volleys  at  the  fugitives  with  fatal  effect. 
The  Chinese  quarters  were  then  set  on  fire  and  thirty-nine 
houses  owned  by  the  company  destroyed  with  their  contents. 
The  miners  next  visited  the  various  mines  in  the  Camp,  un- 
earthed all  the  Chinamen  at  work  therein  and  bid  them  flee 
for  their  lives.  Of  400  Chinamen  here  this  morning  not  one 
remains;  all  are  in  the  adjacent  hills  hiding  near  Green  River, 
fourteen  miles  west.  Some  were  killed  outright  by  shots 
fired  by  the  miners  and  many  were  wounded.  It  is  said  that 
several  feeble  and  helpless  from  disease  perished  in  the  flames. 

CHEYENNE,  Sept.  3.— The  worst  has  evidently  not  been  told 
regarding  the  anti-Chinese  riots  in  the  west  part  of  Wyoming, 
according  to  advices  from  Evanston.  Mobs  of  that  place 
looted  the  houses  of  the  Chinese  before  setting  fire  to  them. 
The  outrage  commenced  in  Mine  No.  6,  where  three  Chinese 
miners  were  attacked  and  killed.  Then  the  riot  commenced 
all  over  town,  even  women  joining  with  loaded  shotguns  in 
their  hands. 

From  Evanston,  the  Sheriff  of  Minta  County  telegraphs 
this  evening  to  Governor  Warren  as  follows :  A  large  number 
of  citizens  with  myself  are  satisfied  that  the  outrages  com- 
mitted at  Rock  Springs  will  be  repeated  here  and  are  liable 
to  break  out  at  any  time.  We  need  troops  to  protect  the  lives 
and  property  of  our  citizens.  Every  Chinaman  in  Rock 
Springs,  over  500  in  number,  were  driven  out  of  town.  Fif- 
teen dead  Chinamen  thus  far  have  been  discovered  and  as 
many  more  dead  bodies  are  probably  in  the  ruins.  Fifty 
houses  belonging  to  the  railroad  company  and  fifty  more 
owned  by  the  Chinamen  were  burned.  The  Chinamen  are 

238 


still  in  the  hills  west  of  town  without  food  and  are  afniid 
to  go  to  Green  River  City,  distant  ten  miles.  Food  will  be 
sent  to  the  starving  Chinamen  in  the  hills  by  the  authorities. 

Colonel  Bee,  Chinese  Consul,  resident  in  this  city,  received 
yesterday  morning  the  following  telegram  from  Evanston, 
Wy.  T. : 

Eleven  Chinese  were  killed  outright.  There  are  also  a  large 
number  of  wounded  still  in  the  hills,  many  fatally  wounded 
and  probably  some  have  died  of  their  wounds.  A  large 
amount  of  property  was  destroyed.  The  Chinese  are  afraid 
to  go  in  search  of  those  in  the  hills. 

Another  despatch  received  by  Consul  Bee  states  that  two  or 
three  sick  Chinamen  are  supposed  to  have  been  burned  in  their 
dwellings.  That  those  who  escaped  had  on  their  working 
clothes.  They  saved  nothing  else. 

The  Chinese  Consul  state  that  as  soon  as  more  particulars 
are  received,  they  will  be  laid  before  the  Chinese  Legation  in 
Washington. 

TACOMA,  Wash.,  Nov.  3,  1885.— The  Chinese  population 
at  this  city,  about  700  souls  in  all,  were  unlawfully  and  forci- 
bly expelled  from  here  today  by  a  crowd  of  anti-Chinese  mob. 

San  Francisco  Call,  Feb.  8th,  1886. 

SEATTLE,  Feb.  7.— Anti-Chinese  meetings  were  held  last 
night,  at  which  a  committee  was  appointed  for  the  ostensible 
purpose  of  visiting  Chinatown  and  ascertaining  whether  the 
city  sanitary  regulations  were  properly  observed  by  the  Chi- 
nese. This  committee  commenced  its  work  at  7  o'clock  this 
morning.  Headed  by  the  acting  Chief  of  Police,  Murphy, 
and  accompanied  by  an  immense  crowd,  which  had  gathered 
to  go  to  Chinatown.  The  mode  of  preceding  was  simple.  A 
committee  would  approach  a  Chinese  house  and  knock  at  the 
door.  When  the  occupants  apepared  they  would  ask  the 
Chinese  concerning  the  observance  of  the  Cubic  Air  Law  and 
other  city  ordinances.  While  the  conversation  was  in  prog- 
ress the  crowd  would  enter  the  house  and  begin  packing  the 
contents  upon  a  wagon  which  would  appear  at  that  juncture. 
It  was  useless  for  the  Chinese  to  resist,  and  they  generally 
acquiesced  with  as  good  a  grace  as  possible.  When  their 
movable  goods  were  loaded  in  the  wagon,  they  were  also 

*       239 


placed  on  board  and  driven  to  the  Ocean  dock,  where  the 
Queen  of  the  Pacific  was  lying  ready  to  sail  for  San  Fran- 
cisco. Not  the  slightest  warning  of  this  movement  had  been 
given,  and  the  authorities  were  totally  unprepared  for  it. 
The  police  force  generally  sided  with  the  crowd,  and  made 
no  effort  to  stop  the  work  of  removal. 

About  400  Chinese  were  huddled  together  in  the  warehouse 
of  the  Ocean  dock  and  the  immense  crowd  prevented  them 
from  returning  to  their  houses.  Some  of  these  houses  were 
pillaged  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  day,  but  now  the  militia 
aro  guarding  Chinatown. 

The  Call,  February  9,  1886. 

SEATTLE,  Feb.  8.— All  last  night  the  authorities  were  busily 
making  preparations  to  assert  the  dignity  of  the  law  as  soon 
as  day  appeared.  At  3  o'clock  a  company  of  Deputy  Sheriffs 
marched  to  the  Ocean  Dock,  where  the  Chinamen  were 
guarded  by  an  anti-Chinese  Committee.  The  members  of  the 
committee  were  made  prisoners  and  guards  were  thrown  out, 
protecting  all  the  approaches  to  the  dock.  Warrants  had 
been  prepared  for  the  leading  agitators  and  as  soon  as  the 
day  broke,  details  of  the  militia  served  the  warrants  and  the 
men  were  removed  to  jail.  All  of  them,  however,  were  bailed 
out  almost  as  soon  as  the  papers  could  be  made  out. 

Judge  Green  having  ordered  the  Sheriff  to  produce  the 
Chinamen  in  Court  at  7 :15,  this  official  marched  to  the  Ocean 
Dock  at  7  o'clock  at  the  head  of  the  Seattle  Rifles,  a  local 
militia  organization.  The  Chinamen  were  taken  from  the 
steamer  "Queen  of  the  Pacific"  and  escorted  to  the  Court 
House.  Few  were  on  the  streets  as  the  procession  passed 
through,  and  though  hoots  and  yells  were  heard,  no  one  at- 
tempted to  interfere  with  its  progress.  The  Chinamen  who 
had  been  on  board  of  the  "Queen  of  the  Pacific"  were  first 
taken  to  the  Court-room.  Judge  Green  addressed  them  and 
said  that  he  had  been  informed  that  they  were  kept  on  board 
of  the  steamer  against  their  will.  He  was  determined  to  find 
out  if  this  were  true,  declaring  that  the  Chinamen  would  be 
protected  if  the  authorities  were  able  to  do  it.  If  they  wanted 
to  go  they  could  go,  but  if  they  wanted  to  stay  they  could  stay. 
Each  Chinaman  was  then  called  by  name  and  asked  whether 
he  wished  to  go  or  stay.  Sixty-two  said  they  would  go  and 

240 


twenty-two  preferred  to  stay.  The  names  were  called  the 
second  time,  and  six  of  th<K»-  who  had  chosen  to  stay  changed 
their  minds  and  stated  their  desire  to  go.  This  left  but  six- 
teen desiring  to  stay.  They  were  escorted  to  places  of  safety 
and  the  others  taken  back  to  the  steamer.  So  far  there  had 
been  no  violence,  but  the  streets  were  constantly  growing  more 
and  more  crowded.  The  work  of  loading  the  Chinamen  on 
the  " Queen  of  the  Pacific"  then  commenced  and  went  on 
vigorously.  At  1 :30,  Captain  Alexander  announced  that  the 
vessel  would  receive  no  more.  Fully  100  who  wished  to  go 
and  whose  passage  had  been  paid,  were  thus  left  on  the  dock. 
After  a  consultation  it  was  decided  that  they  should  wait 
until  the  sailing  of  the  next  steamer. 

Those  who  remained  shouldered  their  blankets  and  started 
to  return  to  Chinatown  under  the  escort  of  the  Home  Guards. 
At  the  corner  of  Main  and  Commercial  streets  an  immense 
crown  had  congregated.  As  the  procession  approached  yells 
and  hoots  were  heard  on  all  sides.  Finally  a  few  an  the 
crowd  made  a  rush  for  the  Chinamen,  attempting  to  break 
through  the  lines  of  Home  Guards.  At  first  the  guards  at- 
tempted to  beat  back  their  assailants  with  the  butts  of  their 
muskets,  but  the  latter  attempted  to  wrest  the  weapons  from 
them.  At  last  an  order  was  given,  a  question  as  to  whether 
the  guards  should  fire  was  solved,  for  all  at  once  a  volley  rang 
out  and  five  men  fell.  The  crowd  receded  several  paces,  horror- 
stricken.  The  scene  for  the  time  being  was  remarkable.  The 
troops  formed  a  hollow  square,  facing  up  and  down  Commer- 
cial and  Main  streets,  and  the  Chinamen,  in  their  midst,  had 
thrown  their  blanket  rolls  on  the  ground  at  the  first  fire  and 
were  crouched  behind  them.  For  fully  an  hour  the  square 
stood  facing  the  crowd  in  this  manner.  Not  a  soldier  flinched, 
but  the  men  kept  their  places  apparently  as  cool  as  veterans. 
At  last  the  crowd  dispersed  sufficiently  to  allow  the  Chinamen 
to  continue  on  their  way  to  Chinatown. 

A  mob  of  30  to  50  white  men  assembled  on  Sept.  15th,  1903, 
at  ten  o'clock,  in  the  town  of  Tonopah,  Nevada,  and  about 
11  to  12  o'clock  the  mob  marched  up  to  Chinese  quarters. 
This  white  mob  was  armed  with  rifles  and  guns  and  pistols, 
knocked  down  the  doors  of  the  Chinese  stores  and  houses, 
assaulted  the  occupants  and  demolished  all  furniture  and 

241 


effects,  and  took  away  several  thousand  dollars  in  money, 
and  drove  the  Chinese  all  from  town. 

One  of  the  Chinese  was  about  60  years  of  age.  They  pulled 
him  along  the  road  and  killed  him  on  the  way  and  threw  his 
body  into  a  ravine  about  3  miles  from  town,  which  was  found 
the  next  morning.  Next  day  the  Chinese  returned  to  town 
and  appealed  to  the  citizens  of  the  town  for  help  and  protec- 
tion, and  some  of  the  mob  were  recognized  and  identified 
and  arrested,  but  after  a  trial  all  were  acquitted. 

In  April,  1887,  four  white  men,  armed  with  Winchester 
rifles,  murdered  34  Chinese  in  cold  blood,  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Snake  river,  northeastern  part  of  Oregon,  and  robbed 
them  of  $60,000.  The  deed  was  done  in  the  most  cold  blooded 
and  revolting  manner,  as  confessed  by  one  of  the  murderers 
in  his  death  bed.  None  was  punished  for  this  crime. 

Tom  Kin  Yung,  Military  Attache  of  the  Chinese  Legation, 
Washington,  who  was  sent  out  to  San  Francisco,  to  be  at- 
tached to  the  Chinese  Consulate  here  temporarily,  on  the 
night  of  September  12th,  1903,  at  11  o'clock,  after  visiting 
the  members  of  the  Chinese  Merchants'  Club  on  Commercial 
street,  proceeded  up  Clay  street  to  return  to  the  Consulate. 
He  was  met  just  in  front  of  the  Chinese  Consulate  by  some 
police  officers,  without  any  provocation  or  cause  they  began  to 
assault  him,  Tom  Kin  Yung,  being  a  strong  man,  knocked 
one  of  his  assailants  down,  but  however,  they  were  too  much 
for  him.  He  was  bound  to  a  post  and  insulted,  and  then  after 
inflicting  bodily  injuries  on  him,  he  was  hauled  to  jail  and 
after  he  was  bailed  out  while  the  case  was  still  pending,  he 
felt  keenly  over  the  disgrace  of  the  arrest  and  assault  at  the 
hands  of  the  police  officers.  Brooding  over  this  matter  to 
such  an  extent  that  he  committed  suicide  on  the  night  of 
Sept.  14,  1903. 

From  the  year  1882  to  1888,  hardly  a  day  passed  without 
an  outrage  of  some  sort  being  perpetrated  upon  the  Chinese 
people  residing  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Stoning,  robbing,  mur- 
dering and  expelling  of  Chinese  were  of  daily  occurrence. 

o 

The  following  is  a  letter  received  by  a  certain  Chinese  offi- 
cial in  Peking,  China,  from  a  lady  in  Toronto,  Canada,  show- 

242 


ing  what  the  Chinese  had  to  go  through  before  they  are  al- 
lowed to  touch  this  land  of  liberty : 

506  Church  Street,  Toronto 

August  14,  1905. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  have  been  a  good  many  years  engaged  in  teaching  English 
to  Chinese,  the  last  six  years  in  Yaumati,  opposite  Hongkong. 
I  left  on  a  visit  to  my  home  on  the  14th  of  May,  and  as  all  the 
years,  now  about  eighteen,  I  have  been  among  Chinese  I  have 
had  my  whole  being  so  roused  and  indignant  at  the  way  they 
are  treated  in  San  Francisco  and  Hongkong  by  Americans,  1 
thought  I  would  write  and  tell  you  something  perhaps  you  did 
not  know  before. 

In  the  first  place,  this  examination  of  the  eyes  is  a  regular 
farce.     It  is  all  to  extort  money.     I  was  to  bring  a  Chinese 
lady,  the  wife  of  a  dentist,  to  San  Francisco.     I  waited  for 
three  vessels,  could  not  go  because  of  her  eyes,  and  she  has  not 
gone  yet.    Because  I  am  known  to  the  Consuls  in  Hongkong, 
having  often  taken  Chinese  there,  and  because  I  am  British,  1 
had  my  eyes  examined  on  the  ' '  Doric ' '  before  she  sailed.    The 
doctor  never  washed  his  hands  or  the  glass  cylinder  with  which 
he  turned  the  eyelids  over  and  he  had  examined  90  Chinese 
and  Japanese.    Now  he  did  this  right  along.    The  consequence 
was  that  many  "developed"  the  disease  before  we  reached 
San  Francisco.    One  bright  little  boy  of  12,  who  was  coming 
alone,  had  no  disease  till  we  were  two  days  out  from  Hono- 
lulu.   This  boy  is  the  son  of  a  merchant  in  San  Francisco.    I 
went  to  see  the  father  several  times.    I  found  the  child  was 
detained  in  the  filthy  sheds  on  the  wharf.    His  certificate  was 
all  right.    His  father  offered  to  get- the  best  eye-doctor  in  San 
Francisco,  but  was  not  allowed.    I  saw  the  poor  man  the  day 
before  the  "Doric"  sailed,  and  he  was  nearly  frantic.     The 
poor  little  lad  was  sent  back  alone  to  China,  and  his  father 
was  allowed  to  sec  him  for  half  an  hour. 

Almost  all  who  come  have  to  deposit  their  return  farps  with 
the  steamship  company,  so  it  pays  them  to  send  them  back 
I  was  asked  to  go  to  the  Chinese  Bureau  and  tell  what  I  >-,-i\\ 
done  and  what  was  done  to  myself,  and  Mr.  Meehan  told  me 
he  was  very  sorry  about  that  little  boy,  and  I  distinctly  told 
him  the  doctor  goes  about  spreading  the  disease.  It  makes 
my  blood  boil  to  see  the  way  the  Chinese  are  treated  and 

243 


talked  of  in  San  Francisco.  I  helped  all  I  could  towards  the 
boycott.  It's  useless  to  say  it  is  to  prevent  coolies  coming. 
I  know  merchants  who  have  been  detained  in  these  filthy  sheds 
unable  to  eat  the  rotten  food  and  black  rice,  and  who  have 
been  broken  down  in  health  for  months  afterwards.  Every- 
where Japanese  are  working  more  cheaply  than  Chinese  and 
have  to  be  treated  now  as  human  beings.  There  were  some  30 
Chinese  returned  from  the  " Doric".  I  hope  to  return  to 
China  in  about  a  year,  but  never  to  see  San  Francisco  again. 
I  was  at  a  meeting  in  one  of  the  missions  there  in  which  a 
dear  old  man,  I  think  he  is  English,  said:  "The  only  way  to 
make  Americans  feel  is  through  their  pocket;  boycott  all  you 
can."  It's  not  coolies  who  come  and  have  to  be  treated  as  if 
they  were  beasts,  but  Chinese  ladies  are  subjected  to  shameful 
treatment  in  the  quarantine  station ;  at  least  I  have  heard  their 
husbands  tell  what  was  done.  The  Chinese  ought  to  have  the 
same  right  to  land  as  any  one  and  I  do  hope  they  will  not 
back  out  in  regard  to  this  boycott.  I  hope  you  will  excuse 
the  liberty  I  take  in  writing.  I  am  not  connected  with  any 
mission  and  teach  because  I  love  to  do  my  little  to  advance 
China  and  I  love  the  Chinese  people. 

Yours  sincerely, 

(Miss) 

I  have  seen  no  mention  in  any  of  the  papers  about  examin- 
ing the  eyes. 


241- 


Here  Follows  a  List  of  Principal  Municipal  Ordinances  of 

Oppression,   Enacted   by  the  Law  /lakers  of 

the  City  of  San  Francisco,  Against 

the  Chinese  Residents  : 

History  of  the  legislation  of  the  Supervisors  of  the  city 
and  county  of  San  Francisco  against  the  Chinese,  culminating 
in  the  passage  of  th*  ordinance  generallv  known  as 
the  "Queue  Cutting  Ordinance, "  compiled  by  one  of  the 
counsel  in  the  above  case  from  the  records  of  the  Super- 
visors and  the  newspapers  of  the  city. 

An  ordinance  of  the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco 
"  regulating  lodginerhouses, "  was  passed  July  29,  1870. 

Section  1  required  that  every  house,  room,  etc.,  except  pris- 
ons, etc.,  occupied  as  a  lodging  house,  etc.,  in  which  persons 
lived  or  slept,  should  contain  within  the  walls  of  such  house, 
room  or  apartment,  at  least  five  hundred  cubic  feet  for  each 
adult  person  dwelling  or  sleeping  therein ;  and  that  any  owner 
or  tenant  of  any  house,  room  or  apartment  who  should  lodge, 
or  permit  to  be  lodged  in  such  room  or  apartment,  more  than 
one  person  to  each  five  hundred  cubic  feet  of  air  in  such  room, 
house  or  apartment,  should  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misde- 
meanor, and  for  every  offence  should  be  fined  not  less  than 
ten,  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars,  or  imprisonment 
in  the  city  prison  not  less  than  five  days,  nor  more  than  three 
months;  or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Section  2  imposed  the  same  penalty  on  each  occupant. 

Section  3  required  the  Chief  of  Police  to  detail  an  officer 
"to  examine  into  and  arrest.*' 

In  May,  1873,  a  number  of  Chinese  were  arrested  under 
this  ordinance,  accounts  of  which  and  of  the  action  of  the 
Police  Court  thereon,  were  published  in  the  San  Francisco 
Evening  Bulletin,  a  leading  paper  of  large  circulation,  in 
its  issues  of  May  29th,  21st  and  22d,  1873,  extracts  from  which 
are  given  below : 

245 


(Bulletin,  May  20,  18737.) 

CHINESE   LODGING   HOUSES-INTERESTING   TEST 
CASE  INSTITUTED. 

"One  of  the  sanitary  provisions  of  the  City  Code  requires 
that  every  person  shall  have  five  hundred  cubic  feet  of  air 
in  the  room  he  or  she  occupies  as  a  sleeping  apartment.  It 
is  notorious  that  this  ordinance  is  utterly  disregarded  in  the 
Chinese  quarters ;  where  the  lodging  houses  are  more  densely 
3rowded  than  the  steerage  of  an  emigrant  ship;  and  it  is 
determined  to  test  its  validity  as  applicable  to  our  Chinese 
population."  Then  follows  an  account  of  the  arrest  and 
incarceration  of  45  Chinese. 

Bulletin,  May  22,  1873.) 
CHINESE  OBSTINACY. 

"The  Mongols  have  determined  upon  the  policy  of  worry- 
ing the  authorities  in  their  attempt  to  enforce  the  ordinance 
prohibiting  the  unwholesome  crowding  of  lodging  houses, 
in  the  hope  of  rendering  the  effort  futile. 

"The  large  gang  brought  up  and  fined  on  Tuesday,  with 
the  reinforcement  today,  have  completely  filled  the  prison 
accommodations.  And  if  the  crusade  is  continued,  the  cattle 
pound,  or  some  other  spacious  inclosure,  will  have  to  be 
utilized  for  their  confinement.  A  few  were  inclined  to  pay 
the  fines  imposed,  but  were  prevented  from  doing  so  by  the 
commands  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Chinese  quarter,  who 
declared,  in  substance,  that  they  would  make  the  city  sick 
of  prosecuting  and  maintaining  Chinamen  in  prison,  under 
this  ordinance." 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  in  enforcing  this  ordi- 
nance, on  account  of  the  number  of  Chinese  who  violated  it, 
and  their  omission  to  pay  the  fines  imposed.  They  were 
arrested  in  great  numbers  and  packed  in  cells  where  they 
had  not  100  cubic  feet  of  air  to  the  person.  They  over- 
crowded the  jails,  and  it  was  thought  necessary  by  the  author- 
ities of  the  city  to  adopt  a  policy  which  would  compel  the 
Chinese  to  pay  their  fines.  Accordingly,  on  the  25th  of  May, 
1873,  three  ordinances  were  introduced  in  the  Board,  one  of 
which  was  specially  directed  to  this  object.  They  were  as 
follows : 

246 


Order  No  — ,  to  provide  for  certain  regulations  regarding 
prisoners  under  sentence  in  the  County  Jail  of  the  city  and 
county  of  San  Francisco. 

The  people  of  the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco  do 
ordain  as  follows : 

Section  1.  Each  and  every  male  prisoner  incarcerated  or 
imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  of  the  city  and  county  of 
San  Francisco  under  and  pursuant  to  a  judgment  or  con- 
viction had  by  the  Police  Court  of  the  city  and  county  of 
San  Francisco,  shall,  immediately  upon  their  arrival  at  said 
county  jail,  under  and  pursuant  to  a  judgment  or  sentence 
as  aforesaid,  have  the  hair  of  their  head  cut  or  clipped  to  a 
uniform  length  of  one  inch  from  the  scalp  thereof. 

Section  2.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  head  jailer  of  said 
county  jail  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  this  order. 

Order  No.  — ,  regulating  the  removal  of  the  remains  of 
deceased  persons  from  cemeteries  within  the  limits  of  the  city 
and  county  of  San  Francisco. 

The  people  of  the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco  do 
ordain  as  follows: 

Section  1.  No  person  or  persons,  shall  remove,  or  cause  to 
be  removed,  from  any  cemetery  or  graveyard  within  the  limits 
of  the  city  and  county,  the  remains  of  any  deceased  person, 
or  persons,  there  placed  or  deposited,  without  the  written 
permit  of  the  Coroner  of  this  city  and  county,  allowing  and 
permitting  such  removal  being  first  had  and  obtained. 

Section  2.  Any  and  every  person  violating  the  provision 
of  Section  1  of  this  order,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor, 
and,  upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  be  fined  a  sum  not  less 
than  one  hundred  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars. 

Order  No.  — ,  Amendatory  of  Subdivision  25,  of  Section 
9,  of  Chapter  VIII,  of  Order  No.  697,  regulating  licenses  for 
keeners  of  laundries  and  laundry  offices: 

The  people  of  the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco  do 
ordain  as  follows: 

Section  1.  Subdivision  25  of  Section  9,  of  Chapter  VIII, 
or  Order  No.  697,  is  hereby  amended  so  as  to  read  as  follows: 

For  keepers  of  laundries  or  laundry  offices  or  wash  houses, 
the  sum  of  fifteen  ($15)  dollars  per  quarter  for  each  and 
every  man  and  male  minor  employed  or  engaged  or  connected 
with  such  laundry,  or  laundry  office,  or  wash  house,  including 

247 


the  proprietor  or  proprietors,  owner  or  owners,  manager  or 
manager*,  agent  or  aeents  thereof. 

The  introduction  of  these  ordinances  led  to  an  exciting  de- 
bate, which  is  reported  in  the  Bulletin  of  May  27,  1873, 
from  which  we  extract  as  follows: 

"THE  CHINESE  PUZZLE. 

"Proposed  legislation  to  check  immigration  from  China.— 
Interesting  debate  in  the  Board  of  Supervisors  last  night 

"It  is  generally  known  *  *  *  *  that  to  deprive  a 
Chinaman  of  his  queue  is  to  humiliate  him  as  deeply  as  is 
possible. 

"It  is  also  very  generally  known,  that  the  bones  of  no 
Chinaman  are  permitted  to  retrain  in  a  foreign  l?nd  ard  that 
all  Chinese,  before  leavinsr  their  country,  feel  assured  that, 
after  death,  no  matter  wherp  they  die,  their  bones  will  be 
taken  back  to  mingle  with  their  native  sod. 

"So  strict  are  all  Chinese  on  these  two  points,  that  it  is 
believed  if  they  were  prevented  from  wearing  their  queues 
here,  and  if  after  death  their  bones  were  denied  transportation 
to  their  native  land,  the  immigration  of  this  superstitious 
people  would  be  effectually  stopped,  and  a  reflux  commenced 
from  our  shores  to  the  Flowery  Kingdom. 

"Sharing  this  belief.  Supervisor  Goodwin  proposed  at  the 
meeting  last  night  the  following  ordinances/' 

(Then  follow  copies  of  the  said  ordinances.) 

"All  of  these  were  passed  to  print,  after  a  few  fervid 
remarks  from  Mr.  Goodwin. " 

Mr.  Story  offered  a  resolution,  preceded  by  a  long  preamble, 
proposing  a  pledge  not  to  employ  Chinese  labor  «  *  •  and 
in  explanation  and  support  of  this  resolution,  said,  "that  the 
resolutions  adopted  at  the  la^t  meeting  of  the  Board,  calling 
for  congressional  action  on  the  Chinese  evil,  would  have  no 
Affect  and  he  didn't  believe  any  man  who  voted  for  them 
thought  they  would.  The  treaty  between  the  United  States 
and  China  was  highly  advantageous  to  our  government,  and 
it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  it  would  be  abrogated. 

"The  Chinese  evil  should  not  be  attacked  from  a  political 
standpoint,  with  a  view  to  making  political  capital.  The  men 
who  have  been  most  eager  to  denounce  Chinamen  and  even 

248 


to  abuse  them  MIV  Lrcnerally  found  patroni/inir  and  accepting 
the  patronage  of  Chinamen.  It  is  an  easy  matter  to  ascertain 
the  owners  of  the  real  estate  in  Chinatown,  and  if  a  list  of 
>uch  owners  should  be  made,  it  would  be  found  that  most 
,)f  them  are  anti-Coolie  men.  The  hackmen,  and  others  who 
assault  Chinamen  are  the  first  to  rush  to  the  wharves  upon 
the  arrival  of  steamers  from  China,  to  make  a  few  dollars 
by  transporting  the  immigrants  to  Chinatown. 

"The  opposition  and  denunciation  of  such  men  is  not 
based  upon  principle. 

"The  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Storey  met  the  question 
properly/' 

The  Alia  California,  another  leading  journal  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, of  May  27,  1873,  also  contained  an  account  of  these 
proceedings,  which  commences  as  follows: 

PAGAN  ORDINANCES. 

No  More  Pigtails— No  Further  Consignment  of  Dead  Ce- 
lestials to  the  Flowery  Kingdom— Proposed  Tax  on  Chinese 
Laundries — A  Practical  Suggestion. 

The  most  important  subject  for  consideration  by  the  Board 
of  Supervisors,  last  evening,  appeared  to  be  the  Chinese  ques- 
tion. The  members  felt  ripe  for  the  subject.  When  the  order 
for  motions  and  resolutions  was  reached,  Supervisor  Good- 
win offered  the  following  ordinance,  which  will  make  the 
sleeping  order  operative. 

(Then  follows  a  copy  of  the  Queue  Cutting  Ordinance.) 

It  was  passed  to  print. 

"NO  MORE  DEAD  CHINAMEN  FOR  CHINA. " 
"Mr.  Goodwin  also  offered  the 'following  ordinance,  which 
vras  passed  to  print.     Its  object  is  to  prevent  the  shipment 
to  China  of  the  remains  of  deceased  Chinamen." 
(Then  follows  the  Disinterment  Ordinance.) 

"A  BLOW  AT  CHINESE  LAUNDRIES." 
''An  amendment  to  the  order  regulating  municipal  licenses 
was  also  offered  by  Mr.  Goodwin,  as  follows." 
(Then  follows  a  copy  of  the  Laundry  Ordinance.) 
"Mr.  Kenny  offered  an  amendment  to  the  order  regulating 
licenses  for  keepers  of  laundry  and  laundry  offices,  who  era- 
ploy  no  rehicle  drawn  by  animal  power,  shall  pay  $15.00  per 

249 


quarter  license.    No  other  change  is  made  in  the  ordinance." 

(The  large  laundries  send  their  washing  home  in  wagons, 
and  pay  $3.00  per  quarter;  the  Chinese  convey  theirs  in 
baskets.  The  amendment  was  adopted.) 

"Mr.  Goodwin  supported  his  ordinance  by  saying  that  'the 
general  Government  had  so  tied  our  hands  by  the  treaty 
with  China,  that  we  must  depend  entirely  upon  local  legisla- 
tion to  discourage  the  immigration  of  Chinese,  who  are  coming 
here  now  at  the  rate  of  two  thousand  a  month.  He  had  no 
doubt  that  the  Coroner  would  do  his  duty,  as  contemplated 
by  one  of  the  ordinances,  and  if  he  failed,  a  gentleman  would 
be  elected  who  will  regard  the  wishes  of  the  people.'  " 

I  Then  follows  report  of  Mr.  Story's  resolution  and  the 
debate  thereon.) 

All  these  ordinances  were  pa^ed  to  print.  The  law  re- 
quires that  such  orders  must  be  printed  in  the  official  journal 
five  days,  with  the  yeas  and  nays,  before  coming  up  for  final 
action. 

On  the  2d  of  June,  1873,  the  Bulletin  had  the  following 
article  on  the  subject  of  one  of  these  ordinances: 

"THE    SUPERVISORS   ON   HAIR   CUTTING/' 

"The  Board  of  Supervisors  have  passed  to  print  an  or- 
dinance requiring  the  cropping  of  the  hair  of  every  person 
who  is  serving  a  term  in  the  jail  under  a  criminal  conviction. 
The  ordinance,  while  it  nominally  makes  no  discrimination 
as  to  race  or  condition,  is  aimed  especially  at  the  Chinese. 
The  enforcement  of  the  Sanitary  Ordinance  against  the  over- 
crowding of  Chinese  is  just  and  ought  to  be  certain.  But  it 
should  be  enforced  lawfully.  The  Chinese  go  to  jail,  in 
mo^t  cases,  rnther  than  pay  the  fine.  The  readiness  to  be  fed 
and  lodged  for  a  week  or  more,  at  the  public  expense,  extracts 
all  the  real  penalty  there  is  in  the  Sanitary  Law.  Five 
hundred  or  a  thousand  Chinese  going  willingly  to  jail,  and 
rather  liking  the  opportunity  for  free  board  and  lodging, 
quite  superior  to  their  own  miserable  accommodations,  pre- 
sents a  new  phase  of  the  question.  The  judgment  has  no 
penalty.  The  Chinese  who  offend  against  the  ordinance  re- 
fuse to  pay  the  fine,  but  go  to  jail  and  board  it  out.  The 
Supervisors,  casting  about  for  some  means  of  relief,  have  hit 
upon  the  plan  of  cropping  the  hair.  White  criminals  would 

250 


rarv  nothing  about  this,  and  the  ordinance  would  probably 
never  be  enforced  against  them.  The  loss  of  a  pigtail  is  a 
ercat  calamity  to  the  Chinese.  It  is  his  national  badge  of 
honor.  If  it  is  cut  off,  he  is  maimed.  He  will  not  venture 
home  without  it,  and  becomes  a  fixture  from  very  necessity. 
The  Sanitary  regulation  enforced  in  this  way  is  a  kind  of 
boomerang,  which  comes  back  with  telling:  effect.  Whatever 
power  the  Board  has  to  make  or  enforce  a  penal  ordinance,  is 
found  under  Article  V,  the  74th  Section  of  Consolidated 
Act. 

The  editor  then  quotes  the  language  of  the  Consolidation 
act  arid  the  16th  and  17th  sections  of  the  Civil  Rights  Act 
of  May  31,  1870,  and  comments  as  follows: 

"It  might  be  well  for  the  Supervisors  to  read  over  these 
sections  carefully.  It  would  be  a  novel  sight— twelve  Super- 
iors marching  up  to  the  Federal  Court  to  answer  to  an  in- 
dictment for  misdemeanor,  and  then  marching  to  jail  for  a 
vear,  with  a  thousand  dollar  blister  by  way  of  a  fine  besides. 

"Some  other  way  must  be  found  to  enforce  a  Sanitary 
law  than  the  one  which  the  Supervisors  have  devised. 

"If  Chinamen  insist  on  violating  a  just  sanitary  law,  their 
pigtails  cannot  be  safely  cut  off,  but  they  can  be  made  to  work 
out  their  fine  in  cleaning  the  very  city  which  they  have  de- 
filed. And  this  and  other  like  punishments  would  probably 
make  them  respect  the  law." 

On  the  evening  of  June  2d,  two  of  these  ordinances  were 
passed— the  "Queue  Cutting"  and  the  "Laundry"  ordinance. 

In  the  Bulletin  of  June  3,  1873,  there  is  a  report  of  the 
proceedings  and  debate,  which  is  as  follows: 

JOHN  CHINAMAN  AGAIN. 

Another  lively  discussion  on  the  Pigtail  Order  in  the  Board 
of  Supervisors ;  the  order  finally  passed. 

"In  the  Board  of  Supervisors  last  night  the  order  passed 
to  print  at  the  last  meeting  for  clipping  the  hair  of  prisoners 
at  the  county  jail  came  up  for  final  action. 

"Mr.  Forbes  moved  that  the  order  be  indefinitely  post- 
poned. 

"Mr.  Shrader  moved  that  the  order  be  finally  passed. 

"Mr.   Goodwin  seconded  the  latter  motion. 

"Mr.  Menzies  suggested  that  the  order  might  be  illegal, 

251 


as  stated  by  the  Bulletin,  and  thought  it  ought  to  be  referred 
to  the  City  and  County  Attorney  for  his  opinion. 

1  'Mr.  Forbes  then  spoke  as  follows:  I  shall  not  be  con- 
sidered inconsistent  in  opposing  the  resolution  before  us.  I 
have  unhesitatingly  opposed  all  the  so-called  anti-Chinese 
resolutions  introduced  at  our  meetings,  because  I  believe  they 
originated  in  a  spirit  and  temper  unconstitutional,  unworthy, 
reprehensible  and  are  calculated  to  stir  up  and  incite  a  certain 
class  of  our  population  to  acts  of  violence  and  bloodshed. 
Nations  achieve  greatness  by  magnanimous  acts,  and  our  own 
nation  has  made  its  name  peculiarly  glorious  by  adopting 
that  policy.  Let  us,  as  a  part  of  our  nation,  consider  this 
whole  matter,  in  a  spirit  of  liberality  and  unprejudiced  delib- 
eration of  which  we  will  not  have  cause  to  be  ashamed.  The 
whole  letter  and  spirit  of  these  resolutions  are  illegal,  narrow- 
minded,  contemptible  and  utterly  unworthy  the  sanction  of 
this  body.  We  ought  not  to  do  an  illegal  act  by  imposing 
tmequal  taxation,  which  the  celebrated  "one-horse,"  or- 
dinance contemplates,  nor  should  we  permit  ourselves  to  favor 
the  passage  of  the  barbarous  orders,  as  to  queue  cutting  and 
disinterments,  which  breed  a  spirit  only  worthy  of  savages. 
I  pity  the  man  who  conceived  and  brought  forth  these  re- 
markable orders. 

"We  learn  that  the  question  of  foreign  immigration  has 
been  the  source  of  much  anxiety  to  nations,  'from  the  earliest 
period  of  history'.  Even  in  our  own  land,  and  within  the 
present  century,  agitations  and  excitements  have  sprung  up 
as  the  result  of  the  great  influx  of  Irish  and  German  popula- 
tion. In  Boston,  that  hotbed  of  propriety,  it  even  went  so  far 
that  upon  a  commission  being  granted  to  an  Irish  Company, 
the  Montgomery  Guard,  the  other  companies  of  American 
Militia  marched  off  Boston  Common  as  the  Irish  Company 
marched  on.  And  then  followed  an  excitement  and  alarm  as 
to  German  immigration,  which  was  just  as  absurd  and  ground- 
less as  time  has  proved,  and  only  good  results  have  followed 
where  evil  was  predicted.  So  has  it  been,  so  will  it  ever  be. 
Our  free  land  to  her  praise  may  it  be  be  said,  has  ever  thrown 
wide  the  door  to  immigrants  from  all  nations. 

"  'I  warm  and  welcome  hearty'  have  all  received,  and 
from  this  has  grown  up  the  wonderful  prosperity  and  prog- 
ress which  fully  challenges  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

252 


"The  grand  progressive  battle  cry  of  our  land  has  been 
Civil  and  Religious  Liberty.'  It  is  the  key-note  of  our 
Constitution.  People  of  all  nations,  kindred  tribes  and 
tongues,  meet  here  upon  one  grand,  common,  neutral  ground. 
Our  forefathers  sought,  found  and  established  this  price- 
less boon,  and  its  great  principles  have  been  defended  and 
maintained  even  unto  the  shedding  of  blood. 

"  Shall  we  now  turn  our  backs  on  this  center  strength  of 
our  Republic  at  the  suggestion  of  some  of  our  members,  who 
have  awakened  suddenly  from  'pleasing  dreams  to  a  prophetic 
realization  of  great  dangers*?  Can  we,  for  any, selfish,  polit- 
fcal  aims  or  aggrandizement,  do  violence  to  our  conscience  by 
undertaking  to  follow  a  false  course  in  regard  to  'the  great 
right'?  Are  we  to  be  governed  by  the  narrow,  selfish  aims 
and  wishes  of  others  themselves,  or  most  of  them,  indebted  to 
the  enjoyment  of  this  very  right  they  would  now  destroy  for 
all  they  are  and  all  they  have? 

"Shall  we  yield  to  the  sway  of  political  wireworkers,  who, 
if  Chinamen  could  vote,  would  obsequiously  fawn  upon  them, 
as  they  now  do  upon  the  once  despised  and  hated  negro? 
Shall  we  follow  the  directions  of  these  debauched  political 
hacks  and  degrade  ourselves  by  taking  their  side  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  grand  principles  which  have  mainly  contributed  to 
make  us  a  great  nation?  For  one,  I  do  not  propose  to  lend 
my  aid  or  influence  to  any  such  degrading  purposes. 

"For  argument's  sake,  let  us  suppose  these  illegal,  un- 
constitutional ordinances  (which  are  also  contrary  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States)  are  passed,  enforced  and 
followed  by  others  still  more  degrading,  which  would  drive 
all  the  Chinese  out  of  this  state  within  sixty  days,  (this  period 
having  been  fixed  as  the  minimum  limit  of  time  for  this  exo- 
dus by  some  of  our  newspapers),  what  would  follow?  1 
answer : 

"First.— All  the  manufacturing  interests  of  our  state 
would  be  seriously  embarrassed,  and  most  of  the  manufac- 
tories closed. 

"Second.  — The  work  of  building  railroads  would   iin?M«-<li 
,-itely  come  to  a  standstill. 

"Third.— The  growing  crops  of  California  could  not  »>•• 
gathered. 

"Fourth.  — Fully  one-half  of  our  dwellings  in  San   Fran- 

253 


eisco  would  be  closed,  and  last,  though  not  least,  I  fear  some 
of  the  members  of  this  Board,  would  fail  to  put  in  ail  ap- 
pearance at  our  meetings,  for  the  lack  of  clean  shirts. 

"It  strikes  me  it  would  be  a  most  lamentable  failure  on  our 
part,  as  a  matter  of  State  policy  to  drive  from  us  this  force, 
be  it  white,  black  or  yellow,  which  is  of  so  much  importance. 

"Now  do  I  propose  to  make  a  plea  in  favor  of  Chinese 
emigration,  per  se;  I  do  not  favor  their  coming,  but  they 
are  here— here  under  the  provisions  of  a  treaty  and  in  com- 
mon with  others,  have  rights;  whatever  these  rights  may  be, 
I  would  maintain  and  respect  them. 

"I  believe  that  Congress,  at  our  request  (a  small  part  of 
the  population  of  California  and  San  Francisco),  will  not 
hastily  abrogate  the  provisions  of  the  existing  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  China,  which  is  generally  admitted  to 
be  favorable  to  us  as  a  nation,  and  which  has  only  recently 
been  secured  after  long  years  of  diplomacy  and  at  great  ex- 
pense; it  appears  unreasonable  for  us  to  believe  otherwise. 

"Mr.  Menzies  replied  warmly  to  Mr.  Forbes.  He  said  the 
latter 's  views  were  idealistic,  and  that  there  was  no  common 
sense  in  anything  he  said.  This,  instead  of  being  a  white 
man's  country,  was  getting  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  prov- 
ince of  China.  Even,  on  the  ranches,  the  Chinese  are  driving 
away  white  labor.  The  question  is,  are  we  better  ofT  with 
white  laborers  or  Chinamen?  He,  Menzies,  counseled  no  vio- 
lence towards  the  Chinese;  but  though  the  plan  suggested  by 
the  proposed  order  was  a  good  one. ' ' 

"Mr.  Forbes  responded,  that  he  thought  his  remarks  were 
about  as  practical  and  sensible  as  those  of  Mr.  Menzies.  He 
declared  that  he  had  not  favored  the  immigration  of  Chinese; 
but  thought,  that  the  proposed  order  was  unworthy  of  an  en- 
lightened people. 

(Rev.  0.  Gibson  was  allowed  to  read  a  plea  for  the  Chinese, 
which  is  omitted.) 

"Mr.  Shrader  made  some  very  earnest  remarks  in  support 
of  the  proposed  order.  *  *  *  He  declared  that  the  most 
stringent  measures  should  be  taken  to  check  the  increase  of 
aur  Chinese  population. 

"Mr.  King  spoke  briefly  in  support  of  the  proposed  order. 
He  said  he  held  up  both  hands  in  favor  of  its  passage. 

254 


"Mr.  Taylor  said,  if  the  order  was  so  amended  as  to  take 
effect  in  thirty  days  he  would  vote  for  it ;  otherwise  not. 

"Mr.  Story  said,  it  was  idle  for  the  Board  to  pass  an 
order  that  on  its  very  face  was  unconstitutional. 

"On  motion  of  Mr.  Goodwin,  the  order  was  so  amended  as 
to  make  it  the  duty  of  the  Sheriff,  instead  of  the  Jailer  to 
execute  it. 

"The  motion  was  then  put  on  the  motion  to  refer  to  the  City 
and  County  Attorney,  which  was  lost.  The  order  was  then 
finally  passed." 

In  the  Alta  California  of  June  3,  1873,  appears  a  report  of 
the  same  debate,  which  is  headed: 

"The  pagan  ordinances— The  hair-cutting  ordinance  dis- 
cussed—Sound opinions  of  Supervisor  Forbes— Views  of  Su- 
pervisor Menzies  and  others— The  Chinese  define  their  posi- 
tion—The order  amended  by  making  the  Sheriff  Chinese  hair- 
dresser, and  finally  passed— Other  ordinances,  and  their  dis- 
posal." 

It  is  stated  that  "they  proved  the  subject  of  a  long  and 
acrimonious  debate.  Mr.  Menzies  moved  that  the  ordinances 
be  laid  over  one  week,  and  that  it  be  referred  to  the  City  and 
County  Attorney  for  his  opinion  as  to  its  legality." 

"This  was  lost,  Mr.  Goodwin  explaining  that  it  was  drawn 
by  the  Deputy  City  and  County  Attorney. 

"Mr.  King,  in  explanation  of  his  vote  said  the  question 
had  long  occupied  the  attention  of.  the  people  and  he  had 
nothing  to  take  back.  He  never  employed  Chinamen,  and  if 
compelled,  would  wash  his  own  shirt  before  one  of  them  would 
do  it.  He  said,  'if  the  Chinese  respected  the  Sleeping  ordi- 
nance, this  one  would  not  be  passed. ' 

"Mr.  Story  said,  he  expected  the  members  would  approach 
the  subject  with  dignity,  and  not  cater  to  public  opinion,  so- 
ealled.  He  thought  men  sent  to  the  County  Jail  for  twenty- 
four  hours  should  not  have  their  hair  cut. 

"Mr.  Taylor  took  the  same  view." 

The  two  ordinances  which  were  passed  were  vetoed  by  the 
Mayor,  Hon.  William  Alvord. 


255 


7     1785 


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